Armies for hire are as old as the hills. Their main disadvantage though, learned long ago, is that an army which fights for its wallet will always lose in the long run to an army which fights for its convictions.
We’re slowly relearning that lesson in Iraq.
One recent lesson of history that the Bush administration didn’t forget was to avoid a draft at all costs if your foreign policy isn’t worth dying for on its own merits. That was the main motivation for employing such a large private army in Iraq.
GBH -
Pelton is a good read. He’s put his butt on the line to get a more in depth look for his stories. He’s opened a lot of doors that no one else wanted to walk through. And lived to write about what he saw.
I do not agree with many of his conclusions - but I respect his commitment.
The “adventurer” journalist has always been around. It became more populated during the late '70’s and gained steam during the '80’s.
Except for some Euro writers covering the actions in Bosnia/Serba area it wasn’t published too much during the '90’s.
Now the ME and ‘instant internet’ authors have brought it back to the publics eye. Blogs have help many build an audience for consumption of their hard print work.
Why have a public CIA?
" . . . Tucked into the 774-page description is a little-known provision to outsource intelligence operations that, in an earlier time, might have been tightly controlled by the military or government agencies such as the CIA. The government continues to gather its own intelligence, but it also increasingly relies on private companies to collect sensitive information.
The deepening and largely hidden involvement of security companies in the war has drawn the attention of Congress, which is seeking to regulate the industry. The House intelligence committee stated in a recent report that it is “concerned that the Intelligence Community does not have a clear definition of what functions are ‘inherently governmental’ and, as a result, whether there are contractors performing inherently governmental functions.” . . .
The government has outsourced a wide range of security functions to 20,000 to 30,000 contractors in Iraq; the exact number has not been disclosed. Contractors protect U.S. generals and key military installations and have served as prison guards and interrogators in facilities holding suspected insurgents, among other responsibilities. . . . "