There are 10,000 to 15,000 civilian mercenaries in Iraq right now

[jpgray]

Remember Dyncorp in Bosnia. If you don't remember, read this.

Now think for a few minutes about what an army of 10-15 thousand armed men with little to no oversight or media scrutiny could do in a largely lawless society. Think about how you will likely never hear anything whatsoever about any wrongdoing, beyond perhaps the violent reactions to it.

This is truly one of the darkest hours of the country.

[mmonk]

1. I don't think these mercenary corporations

are necessarily unprofessional. In fact, they are quite the opposite. My worry is co-ordination and rules of engagement.

[jpgray]

2. Those who supported Pinochet in Chile and apartheid in South Africa?

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/April2004/Berkowitz0405.htm

[mmonk]

3. I don't claim their aims are

always correct. In fact, I don't care for their operations. They fulfill their contracts though. I'm looking at it from an amoral viewpoint.

[jpgray]

7. Okay, I understand you

It's just that I have no idea of the quality or morality of these companies who carry out law and order in Iraq, but what I see gives me little confidence. Examples as gross as Dyncorp make me very suspicious of placing the security of many civilians in the hands of security contractors. I'm not interested in whether they do their job, at least not as interested as I am in whether these groups are strictly monitored and operate within local and international law, not outiside of it. The South African contingent may well be in violation of SA law as we speak.

[Jacobin]

4. The really cool part is they don't have to obey the

Geneva convention. They can use exploding bullets. Shoot someone in the leg and it can kill them when the thing explodes.

Suweeeeet!!!! And, when the mercenaries get killed or maimed, ya don't have to list them as killed or injured soldiers!!!! It's just the coolest thing ever.

/sarcasm

[mmonk]

5. That's what I meant

by rules of engagement. Also the lack of perceived culpability of governments that hire them.

[LeftwingPitbull]

6. Our government could have at least told us they were there.

I don't like the idea of private mercenaries. They can get away with more. Not good for democracy; not that Bush ever cared.

[Vladimir]

9. A large number of them

are ex-special forces who are leaving the army in droves for civilian contractors and mercenary work because it pays so much more...

V

[happyending]

8. Dyncorp

There were some really good web sites slagging Dyncorp,
let me see if I can't Google some of them up.

http://www.dyncorp-sucks.com/pmc/default.htm

Oh well, there's one. Just Google Dyncorp for more.

OK, here's the thing I was looking for.
(By the way, the Asia Times is a first rate news source.)


"The role of private military companies received a significant, if little noted, boost late last year when the Virginia-based US contractor DynCorp received a new assignment: protecting Afghan President Hamid Karzai"
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/EA04Ag01.html

[cosmicdot]

10. can they outsource? can ExxonMobil hire them against Shell Oil?

can Dyncorp be on one side and Blackwater on another?

are there any concerns over a thinning line between sovereign and corporate power?