Open Left

Deaths, pay, and composition

It is glaringly obvious that the soldiers, particularly the US soldiers take the risks while the mercenaries get the pay and the glory.  In Iraq, soldiers suffered 4,629 deaths and mercenaries 452.  That's more than 10 to 1.  

Second, mercenaries were directing the torture policy at Abu Gharab putting US soldiers at risk.

Third, while over 90% of soldier deaths in Iraq were taken by Americans a clear majority of mercenary deaths (245 of 452) were taken by foreigners.  Sure there were a lot of Brits and a few Aussies but a surprising number of these were taken by third worlders lured by the big bucks.  The number of Fijians was astounding as was the number of Africans.

Fourth, the transfer of guarding US embassies from the US Marines, the finest soldiers in the world, to rent-a-thug mercenaries is ominous.  These mercenaries in particular consider themselves above the law and create diplomatic incidents.  I can only state that the shoe shopping Condi Rice is either crooked or a bit of a thug at heart or both.

The Brits had their best luck with mercenary armies when the armies were firmly under British command.  John Churchill (yes, the first of those Churchills) cleaned Louis XIV's clock with largely mercenary and "allied armies."  Under local officers (Germans in that case)like the famous Hessians of the American Revolution the performance was not nearly as good.  Our mercenaries have corporate, often foreign, officers.  At least some have black or at least non-white foreign troops and British officers.  This sounds like a recipe for disaster.  

Some written material on Iraq suggests that the mercenaries are likely to revolt against the US to demand more pay and benefits.  

Court decisions that exempted the mercenaries from the rule of either US or Iraqi law are fightening in the extreme.  I use the term rent-a-thug to indicate the brazen lawlessness of some of these mercenaries.  They are not making friends but they are influencing people" to hate the U.S.

Bring them under law and get them out.

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by: David Kowalski @ Sun Jun 07, 2009 at 01:52:41 AM CDT