Outsourcing The United States Military

This is unbelievable, this administration never ceases to amaze me.

According to Jeremy Scahill, author of The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army: the very moment the US began sending troops for an invasion of Iraq, the Pentagon made private contractors (such as Blackwater) an integral part of the operations. When the US began rolling into Baghdad in 2003, they brought with them the largest army of private contractors ever deployed in modern war.

As of December 2006, there were estimated 100,000 private contractors in Iraq. The latest estimate is 120,000 contractors on the ground. This is almost a one-to-one ratio. During the first Gulf War, the ratio was 64 soldiers to one contractor.

This in itself may not seem like all that big deal. But let’s uncover the truth. These contractors essentially provided Bush and his cronies (I mean administration) with political cover, thus allowing the government to deploy private forces in a war zone free of public scrutiny, with deaths, injuries and crimes of those forces shrouded in secrecy.

This private army (most would label them mercenaries) has been shielded from accountability, oversight and legal constraints by Bush and his administration. Despite the presence of 120,000 private contractors on the ground in Iraq, only one has been indicted for crimes or violations. Therefore, we have about 240,000 troops in Iraq and only half of them are being counted, and half have zero accountability.

Most of these contractors are not oil field workers, truck drivers or cooks. Most of them are highly skilled and professionally trained soldiers hired by the US to do work that our regular military cannot legally do. They even provide security for our military. What? That’s right, they provide security for the most advance military in the world. They perform intelligence work. They complete missions for the US that otherwise would be against the laws of war. Plus, they don’t count as casualties or fatalities of Bush’s War. Unbeknownst to most Americans and largely off the Congressional radar. Rumsfield stated that the contractors are part of “the total force” that is a legitimate part of our nations “warfighting capability and capacity."
Protected by Rumsfields designation, the contractors are entitled to immunity from civilian lawsuits enjoyed by the military, BUT they are not bound by the military’s court martial system.

There has been approximately 800 contractors killed and 8000 injured. Thus far, $4 billion in taxpayer funds have been paid for private security forces in Iraq.
The State Department has awarded Blackwater $750 million since June of 2004.

Bush’s Mercenary Armies are participating in covert operations in Iraq, paid by us, and without any oversight or accountability. We don't need a surge, we need to come home.

When are the citizens of these United States going to demand this insanity stop?