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Cash On the Bullet Head

Anne brought up a piece on private security/law enforcement/military forces as an example of an ongoing, potentially troubling trend.

To be honest, it crept up on me so gradually I hardly noticed it. It's such a part of the post Reagan-era privatization/ federal abandonment of the citizens push -- you know, everything from the rise of a bottled water/ home purification system industry as the government gradually eased itself out of the potable water supply biz to the ongoing abandomnent of healthcare for citizens -- that, as I said, I hardly noticed it. What I did notice I simply wasn't pausing to examine.

Is this what we want? A growing army of domestic mercs to fill in whenever a rogue regime decides to send our National Guardsmen to places they never should have been sent?

Comments

Anonymous said…
It might be along the lines of Stephen Harper's hopes for Canada's future, as well. Not mine, though. On either side of the Line. We're already re-arming the Line too fast for my liking as it is...
9:22 PM
Mike Norton said…
The most benign way to frame it is that it's a Free Market Future, but it unnerves me to place military power out so blatantly in the service of those with the money to pay for it. I suppose I could learn to admire the sheer honesty of it, but I'd rather not.
9:26 PM
Anonymous said…
Agreed. We've seen warnings of its possible/probable misuses for the last couple of decades: Max Headroom, the Shadowrun role-playing game, Marvel's original 2099 line of titles...and the list goes on and on, of course. We do NOT need this playing out in the real worlds.
8:56 AM
Anonymous said…
We should be asking what the credentials of the members of Blackwater are. I suspect that they may be connedted with the federal government or law enforcement agencies. If they are allowed to operate in the theater of war, then I would have to think that they do have connections to people that are in high places. I have to think that to be succesful in security or law enforcement you have to have impressive cidentials, training, and experience. If they are ex-special forces and/or FBI, or other law enforcement officers then we can assume that they are trained by the best in the world to provide the security. We have to ask weather or not they have the credentials to succesfully apply and use deadly force. I thing thats the root of your concers. No one wants Rambo running around shooting everyting that moves. I also believe that if you have the ability, knowlege and training, then Blackwater has the potential to make the world a safer place. If on the other hand they are a bunch of yahoos who like guns and shooting them then be affraid, be very affraid! Let's know the enemy as Sun Su was quoted as saying.
12:13 AM
Anonymous said…
Hell, most of us could succesfully apply and use deadly force- with no credentials at all. That's scary.


All Hail Pcuuklm!
10:20 PM
Anonymous said…
One could assume that having a bunch of policemen working extra hours as private security would be a win/win situtation -- providing, of course, that the policemen were highly qualified to begin with.

But the sad truth of the matter is, most policemen are not qualified at all. The police force of Pensacola, Fl, for instance was run by people too stupid to make it into the Navy, and the pay was pitiful. Sure enough, the P'Cola police had a habit of gunning down suspects that would have made major news if P'cola was a town worth having a major new outlet. To talk of Chicago's routine police procedure of torturing suspects or simply killing troubling citizens Dirty Harry style, is to understand that the system is seriously flawed.

The Blackwater group are exactly the kind of creeps you fear them to be. These are guys who are into "law enforcement" with scant understanding of law, but with a sadistic pleasure in enforcement.
And added to the lure is fairly high pay. Who are you going to attract to such a job?

Why on earth are there people that afraid that they feel the need to have armed bodyguards in the first place? This is the result of sick, dying society. There is nothing healthy in this.

And no, I'm logging into this system so I can get email from them.

Grant Schreiber
10:14 AM
Anonymous said…
Here's the missing link between your local militia and the National Guard. As disturbing as it is, you have to admire the guy for filling such a niche.

Leuszler
http://openmike.blog-city.com
8:38 AM
Mike Norton said…
It's a disturbing trend for me regardless of their qualifications. I can't get past them ultimately being guns for hire, ultimately responsible to whoever directly provides their paycheck, which is not to say the general public they're ostensibly hired to protect.

A false sense of elitism is almost inevitable, and adding that to the backdrop of a "crisis" situation... and it's almost bound to become ugly.
4:09 AM
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