Oh Cool! Privatizing War: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
That’s just what American needs right now: a corporate war machine.
The White House is actively considering a bold plan to turn over a big chunk of the U.S. war in Afghanistan to private contractors in an effort to turn the tide in a stalemated war, according to the former head of a security firm pushing the project.
Under the proposal, 5,500 private contractors, primarily former Special Operations troops, would advise Afghan combat forces. The plan also includes a 90-plane private air force that would provide air support in the nearly 16-year-old war against Taliban insurgents, Erik Prince, founder of the Blackwater security firm, told USA TODAY.
Well, damn, I didn’t see that coming: a military junta.
Can you even come close to imagining how much this would cost? Hell, probably more than a beautiful diamond encrusted and gold dusted wall at Mexico.
Hell, we turned over our health care to private insurance companies and that worked out real well, right? Now imagine insurance companies with guns and tanks.
(By the way, don’t you just love how USA Today calls it a “bold” plan instead of an UnAmerican fascist idiot plan?)
Not a brain among them. The MSM is legion with weak-minded, blithering idiots. All spewing carefully scripted news bites (propaganda) dictated by corporate media ceos. I would love to see some organization inform the American public via bulletin boards about fascism.
1Oh, good. So because Betsy DeVos is in with Trump, what are the chances her brother Erik Prince (founder of Blackwater), is probably on the short list for “helping out?”
The amount of money he made in Iraq was obscene.
2Erik Prince is as screwed up as his sister, the, most incompetent member of the Trumpist cabinet. Both of them want to privitize gov’t responsibilities and they pocket the profits.
3Yup. Worked out well for the Romans when they hired mercenaries. Some bright bulb will probably suggest another “bold idea” like releasing some tactical nukes along with the private air force.
4Erik Prince is very, very dangerous and I had hoped this country learned their lesson with him. He had already built his own little empire within the military and ousting him was very difficult. I was frightened when I saw him cozying up to Trump. Remember when Trump wanted ‘his own personal security in lieu of the Secret Service’? He was planning on putting Eric in full control over the White House. That apparently failed, thankfully, but even letting Prince anywhere near our military operations again is terrifying. He wants absolute control over the US, probably the world. He is a very rich, very devious well-connected madman.
5Unfortunately we are already half way there!
http://www.newsweek.com/creeping-privatization-americas-forces-616347
6Cannot see how the joint chiefs in the Pentagon would go for this. Hey, didn’t Britain do something like this during the Revolutionary War by hiring Hessians? That really worked out well, didn’t it. Britain got beat and withdrew the lobster backs. However, a certain percentage of Hessians stayed, especially in Pennsylvania where they originated what would now be about the sixth generation of Americans.
7Might be, I say might be a silver lining here. At least the idiots going over there to get shot won’t be our own troops. And they might get the same follow up care as our real vets. That last sentence was tongue in cheek.
8The Romans couldn’t even keep their slaves under control.
9The Daily Beast covers this story today as well. In their version, Bannon is the only White House advisor supporting it. From what I’ve read in the past, regular military officers know how much of a scam privatization is. What needs to happen now is getting some military experts on t.v. Because Prince is apparently making the rounds. And we all know where Donnie Douchebag gets most of his intel.
10On the other hand, the “run government like a business” crowd can rejoice in looking at P&L statements and balance sheets for those companies rather than getting into the nasty details of regional skirmishes and such. Wisely used, we could even develop a portfolio of wars and manage our investments to achieve financial targets. Yes, yes….this is all making sense now.
11They need to ask the Papua New Guinea government how well that worked out for them in the ’90s.
12What concerns me is the “How to be a dictator” checklist. Is not get a military devoted only to you part of that?
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