So I heard on local noozeradio today this story about a buildup of mercs in Afghanistan .....

[Stinky The Clown]

.... In fact, we were out for a few hours going here and there and every time the damned car radio was on, this same story was going on.

The DoD and DoS are talking about building up mercenary forces in Afghanistan to about the 100,000 person level. They'll do the same sorts of things the Blackwater scum did in Iraq - convoy escorts, building security, guarding VIPs, that sort of shit. The same sort of shit that got us in DEEP SHIT in Iraq.

I'll bet that Blackwater won't be getting any contracts, but so what? They people who sign up to be mercs are the people who sign up to be mercs. Most are just looking for adventure and a way to make big money fast. A few are sociopaths. But whatever. 100,000 of them.

The story was short on specifics. In listening to it as many times as I did, it was clear: The story was a flag being run up the pole to test wind direction. Not that the buildup wouldn't happen, but rather, how to spin it.

I then checked my old watch. Had it been running backward about 7 or 8 years ........... ?

[grantcart]

1. there is a report that the Pentagon is considering a contract in December

that would hire private contractors for base security and convoy escorts.


According to published reports there is no indication of 100,000 level.


The reports come from a WAPO report of a July 10th notice filed by the Pentagon.


No sources are indicating that the issue has been finalized or that there is consideration in the numbers that you heard on the radio.


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/26/world/main5189213.shtml

[Stinky The Clown]

2. The radio story included a (prerecorded) interview with some DC "security expert" .......

...... who threw out the 100,000 number along with his reasons whey he felt that was the neighborhood in which they would be contracted.

The story on their website, as you point out, mentions no numbers at all.

[tekisui]

3. Yep. Here it is from the AP:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6152690&mesg_id=6152690

[dgibby]

4. No doubt they'll hire that "new" company called Xe.

:evilgrin: :sarcasm:

[Stinky The Clown]

5. To whomever did the unrec ....... how about you man up and say why?

You anonymous, chickenshit, jerkoff, COWARD

[leftstreet]

6. LOL I'm noticing the oddest things getting UnRec'd

But maybe some see it as a way of voting their disapproval of the subject, not the post?

:shrug:

I don't know.

[tomreedtoon]

7. Not me, but I didn't rec this either. And this is why:

You are assuming negative reasons for people becoming merc's. And yet, the people doing the work for "free" - those people recruited into the American Military - are considered dupes, innocents, and people exploited by their country.

Stinky, has it occurred to you that some people who sign up as merc's are more honest about life and reality than people who sign up with the military? That they realize the same values as the corporations and the medical establishment - that greed is good? You might dislike those values, but given the way this country has been run since Reagan, it's pretty predictable.

If I was told that a merc would make more money than a soldier (you know that has been talked about A LOT in the media) and I was jobless here in American, why would I choose anything but the merc job? That doesn't make me a psychopathic killer or a racist, just someone who knows basic math.

And no, although I was kicked to the curb by my employer, I'm not young enough, tough enough or vicious enough to become a mercenary.

[MineralMan]

9. I've known a couple of mercenaries, and I wouldn't allow

them anywhere near a hot zone. Both were career hotheads with hair-trigger tempers. Last I heard of them, they were working for Blackwater in Iraq.

If we are going to have a military presence in a foreign country, it should only be military. No mercenaries. Ever. That's why the UCMJ is a tougher document than most other sets of laws.

If we need mercenaries to perform any part of a military mission, then we need either to get the hell out of that place or increase the number of personnel in the area. If we can pay contract mercenaries way more money than we can our own troops, then we need to increase the pay to our troops to a level capable of attracting adequate numbers of qualified people.

Mercs suck!

[Stinky The Clown]

11. I have no problem debating an issue. I have no quarrel with disagreement.

All I'm asking is to have the decency to man up when you take an actual action ...... like pressing the unrec button.

You chose to simply state your disagreement. And that's fine.

My quarrel is with the anonymous unrec cowards, not you.

As to what I said about mercs ..... "They people who sign up to be mercs are the people who sign up to be mercs. Most are just looking for adventure and a way to make big money fast. A few are sociopaths.

That statement is pretty much sanguine about them and hardly broadly critical.

[grantcart]

14. They may have been unreccing because they don't like the idea of

President Obama using private contractors in Afghanistan.

[Stinky The Clown]

15. Or, alternatively, they don't like the mention that he is

[Tangerine LaBamba]

8. My watch is talking to your watch -

the Discovery Channel is running an eight-hour series called "Cronkite Remembers," and it's all Cronkite talking about his career, complete with all the film clips, recordings, commentary. It's amazing.

I just watched Cronkite on Vietnam, including his time spent with LBJ before and after his presidency, and the comment after Cronkite saw the destruction of Hue made by a general who said something about "victory is at hand, we only need another hundred, hundred-and-fifty thousand troops."

Afghanistan flashed before me.

My watch is running more than forty years backward.

We're doomed.

K&goddamnR.................

[Stinky The Clown]

12. Heh ..... I'm watching the same thing and updating my iTunes ........

..... a lazy Sunday on the deck ....... ruminating and doing mindless crap ...... and then there's Walter on my teevee.

Man, I miss teevee noozers of his ilk.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

13. I bowed out of brunch,

hurried up a shower, threw some laundry around, and am eating up this series.

I could cry, watching this..............................

[readmoreoften]

10. The contractors are already there. They're the ones "interrogating" Bagram prisoners.

You know, more Dilawars to win hearts and minds. I assume their numbers are less than 100,000 but I don't get why this is so shocking. :shrug: