Bring It On!

Blackwater in the Back Yard

April 10th, 2007 | by Ken Grandlund |

Reading through the comments yesterday on this post reminded me of a local news story I’d seen the other night. It seems that one of Team Bush’s freedom buddies, Blackwater USA, is pining for a “training camp” just east of San Diego. “Just east” is mostly comprised of high desert scrub terrain, canyon country, and, farther east, hot desert. Call me crazy, but that sounds an awful lot like another of Blackwater’s stomping grounds, so I can see why they’re anxious to set up shop out there. But, tucked here and there “just east” of San Diego are a bunch of small communities, and those residents are opposed to having a Blackwater camp in their backyards. Can’t say that I blame them. But where I would have been opposed to the camp because of my political and moral beliefs, these folks had much more practical concerns: how much noise would it bring, how much traffic, how would it affect the agricultural economy? I thought it odd at the time that they didn’t see a more ethical rationale for opposing such a “business” on principal- on principal that it profits from war and dissent, that it’s hardly accountable for the billions of tax dollars it collects, to name a few. Or that it’s very existence signifies a federal government purposely run aground and at the mercy of vultures.

The thought drifted back into my head for a few days, but was brought to the front again when reading the comments of the previously mentioned post. What specifically caught my eye, as it did others I am sure, was this bit from Lewis Perdue:

Any detailed research into private military firms, whether by reading “Corporate Warriors” or other works, clearly shows that any substantial use of military force by ANY U.S. Commander-in-Chief — whether they are Republicans or Democrats — will require the services of firms like Blackwater.

If you don’t like Blackwater and other PMFs, then the military needs to be better funded.

Of course the argument has been made that we should be spending less on the military.

I do not believe we lack for enemies and I do not believe we can love them into submission.

Just about half of all global military and defense spending (roughly $950 billion) is done by the United States, with the second biggest spender about $400 billion behind. How could it be that we need to outsource anything military related at all? Are we still buying $8000 hammers? I’ve talked before about the grave degradation to American government caused by Bush’s aggressive outsourcing policies, but there has to be a limit to what can be outsourced if we are still to remain a democratic and free country. And for damned sure, the military is one of those areas where outsourcing should be eliminated, especially where combat units are concerned.

Mr. Perdue states plainly that no US CIC can expect to use sustained military force without the use of PMC’s like Blackwater. That’s certainly not thinking outside of the box, now is it? Surely, if a military can be downsized, it can be upsized too. Unless of course you’re in the middle of a badly conceived and poorly commanded war of choice that keeps sending recruits back home in less than original condition. Immediately following the 9-11 attacks, the American military experienced an uptick in enlistments, a common occurence when the country is actually attacked. The dearth of recruitment and retention numbers since Iraq prove the other side of the coin- no one wants to die for nothing, or worse, for a bunch of lies and shifting piles of verbal crap.

Could have been that the whole concept of downsizing the military was not about saving money but about reducing the urge of a trigger happy CIC to engage in colonial resource rampages by reducing his available moving targets. That, and the idea that the days of mass army clashes had passed on to the age of mass bombing sorties may have helped reduce the size of our defensive forces. Regardless, a return to a sane military policy would eliminate the need for PMC’s in short order. And legislation should be introduced limiting the ability of any branch of government to outsource major constitutional powers.

Mr. Perdue’s next claim that the military needs better funding to eliminate the need for PMC’s. That is not a credible statement though, and here’s why. Aside from the already massive infusion of tax dollars into the defense department, seemingly insuring the military an adequate supply of funds if spent frugally and with accountability, the costs paid to those PMC’s currently under contract are all “emergency” funds, actually increasing the overall military costs. If, as he insists, we need more money in the military to eliminate the PMC’s, how about we stop using the PMC’s and give that money to the military- same money, same results, only one group is actually under federal command and authority, and it’s not the private military company, that’s for sure.

He flips the coin next, submitting the argument for reduced military spending, something which seems like a no-brainer. After all, if we’re already outspending the next closest nation by over $400 billion a year, and if we possess the really cool stuff, and if we know who has the nukes to strike back, we ought to be able to trim the budget a little bit. Clearly, all that money isn’t stopping a civil war in Iraq, nor is it protecting our troops, or making the world safer for democracy. In the first Gulf War, the world stood by in awe at our military power. Now they stand by in amazement- amazed at how easy it can be to stagger a giant. If a homegrown insurgency can cripple a super power with barely a drop in the financial bucket, to what good is all that military spending anyhow? Yet even I would support such levels if they actually made the world safer for us all instead of lining the pokets of mercenaries and war-profiteerers.

No one here denies that America has enemies. We only disagree about how to engage them and disarm them, and eventually cooperate with them in peace. Iraq has many parallels to Vietnam. That bitter war split our country in two. Less than 30 years after we left in a hurry, our two countries became partners in trade.

But I stray….

Despite America’s long association with mercenaries, Blackwater, and other private military companies like it, have no real place in a democracy. One major part of American stability has been that the military has always been under the control of the civilian, elected authority. Always. By privatizing our military, that accountability goes away, and the door opens a bit more towards the possibility of a corporate-military revolt to seize total power. And globally, their use goes against international rules of war. If captured they are afforded no rights as POW’s and can be executed as unlawful combatants. Sounds a lot like what we’re calling those guys at Gitmo.

[tag]Blackwater+USA, Lewis+Perdue, PMC’s, mercenaries, Iraq, KFMB, San+Diego, military[/tag]

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