An unintentional truth about the war in Iraq
Patrick Kennedy, Undersecretary of State for Management on the decision to renew Blackwater's license, despite deaths and inquiries into the contractor's conduct: "We cannot operate without private security firms in Iraq. If the contractors were removed, we would have to leave Iraq."
I'm sure Secretary Kennedy did not mean to do this, but he has provided yet another piece of evidence regarding the underhanded method used to take America into the War in Iraq. Rather than telling the truth about the costs of the war, the administration provided a lot of fairy tale cost estimates and oil revenue projections. In addition, they intentionally did not provide sufficient troop levels to complete the mission as that would have required a greater amount of political will that they could not muster. They have attempted to make up for this by using private contractors in nearly every area of the war. The result has been a mercenary army that has run rampant without any legal consequences (since our interim Iraqi administration imposed laws granting these contractors immunity from both American and Iraqi laws). These same mercenaries also cause a lot of resentment for the troops they work with due to the huge disparity between the meager amount paid to soldiers and the extremely large amounts paid to contractors. Whenever American soldiers are counted in Iraq, they intentionally do not include the nearly 100,000 contractors (who are there cashing in on our grandchildren's tax dollars due to the huge budget deficits used to pay them) and this is yet another attempt to obfuscate the true cost of this war. Our military needs to be given the proper tools to do the job for any war that is necessary and we cannot allow dishonest politicians to destroy our standing in the world through the use of war-profiteering mercenaries who are not fighting for the best interests of America. If removing the contractors would lead to the end of this war, then that is proof in itself that the war needs to end.
I'm sure Secretary Kennedy did not mean to do this, but he has provided yet another piece of evidence regarding the underhanded method used to take America into the War in Iraq. Rather than telling the truth about the costs of the war, the administration provided a lot of fairy tale cost estimates and oil revenue projections. In addition, they intentionally did not provide sufficient troop levels to complete the mission as that would have required a greater amount of political will that they could not muster. They have attempted to make up for this by using private contractors in nearly every area of the war. The result has been a mercenary army that has run rampant without any legal consequences (since our interim Iraqi administration imposed laws granting these contractors immunity from both American and Iraqi laws). These same mercenaries also cause a lot of resentment for the troops they work with due to the huge disparity between the meager amount paid to soldiers and the extremely large amounts paid to contractors. Whenever American soldiers are counted in Iraq, they intentionally do not include the nearly 100,000 contractors (who are there cashing in on our grandchildren's tax dollars due to the huge budget deficits used to pay them) and this is yet another attempt to obfuscate the true cost of this war. Our military needs to be given the proper tools to do the job for any war that is necessary and we cannot allow dishonest politicians to destroy our standing in the world through the use of war-profiteering mercenaries who are not fighting for the best interests of America. If removing the contractors would lead to the end of this war, then that is proof in itself that the war needs to end.
Labels: The Truth is Rare
posted by The Debunker at 7:54 PM
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