Wow. I hate it when something so obvious smacks me in the face.
Asia Times Online
The shadow war in Iraq
While all of this is troubling, there is another disturbing fact that speaks volumes about the Democrats' lack of insight into the nature of this unpopular war - and most Americans will know next to nothing about it. Even if the president didn't intend to veto their legislation, the Democrats' plan does almost nothing to address the second-largest force in Iraq - and it's not the British military. It's the estimated 126,000 private military "contractors" who will stay put there as long as Congress continues funding the war.
The 145,000 active-duty US forces are nearly matched by occupation personnel who currently come from such companies as Blackwater USA and the former Halliburton subsidiary KBR, which enjoy close personal and political ties with the Bush administration.
Until Congress reins in these massive corporate forces and the whopping federal funding that goes into their coffers, partially withdrawing US troops may only set the stage for the increased use of private military companies (and their rent-a-guns) which stand to profit from any kind of privatized future "surge" in Iraq.
Could they fight a "Shadow War" with these guys?
If the U.S. Military withdraws, who tells Haliburton et.al. to get the f**k out, and does it have any weight?
Can they ignore us? Can they run a parallel war? Are they running a parallel war?
We got some smart people here.... can anyone help me?
Cross posted at Daily Kos
posted by Paddy @ 9:58 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Well that's heartening to think about :)
It's called funding isn't it?
Kill the cash flow.
Those fools don't play for peanuts.
I agree with Fernando -- it's funding.
Also, at least some of the private contractors are providing food and shelter or doing laundry for the regular troops down there, because we've privatised stuff like that that the armed forces once did for themselves.
you simply make it illegal for any American company to conduct any military, security or police actions in Iraq. Secondly, you strip away all immunity from prosecution that all these contractors currently enjoy in Iraq. This will clear them out.
Actually -- I suspect the Iraqis will clear them out right quick if any of them have illusions of outstaying the US military -- a force that will eventually have to leave.
There is another aspect besides funding - even if the funding remained, the MMF's (the first M stands for "mercenary" and you can figure out the rest) aren't too shy about metaphorically tossign matches into gas cans - but then they call in the Marines or the Army to put out the fire.
Tame that away and you might quite literally see some of these MMF's sprout feathers.
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