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America's New Mercenaries
Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander of conventional and special forces in the war zones, is using contractors because "he wants an organization that reports directly to him," said a former top aide to the commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command, the umbrella organization for all Special Forces. "Everyone knows Petraeus can't execute his strategy without the private sector." The former aide spoke on the condition that he not be identified, saying his career could be jeopardized if he went public. The International Security Assistance Force, the general's home command, did not respond to a request for comment...

Until recently, the task of rescuing American soldiers was largely carried out by the military's Joint Personnel Recovery Agency. But Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has recommended that the agency's parent command in Virginia be closed. If the recovery agency is shut down, Blackbird would likely pick up the rescue business as it is outsourced. In that case, recovery of captured or stranded American soldiers "won't be a military command anymore; it will be a business," said the former Special Operations command aide (an agency spokesman said, "It's too early to say what will happen.")

Tim Shorrock is a Washington-based investigative journalist and the author of Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Intelligence Outsourcing, published in 2008 by Simon & Schuster. His articles have appeared in The Atlantic, Salon, Mother Jones, The Nation and many other publications at home and abroad. He can be reached through his website at timshorrock.com.

kalm wrote:The trend toward privatization of the military continues under Obama. Perhaps we can begin outsourcing combat to the Chinese too. This can't be good.

America's New Mercenaries
Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander of conventional and special forces in the war zones, is using contractors because "he wants an organization that reports directly to him," said a former top aide to the commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command, the umbrella organization for all Special Forces. "Everyone knows Petraeus can't execute his strategy without the private sector." The former aide spoke on the condition that he not be identified, saying his career could be jeopardized if he went public. The International Security Assistance Force, the general's home command, did not respond to a request for comment...

Until recently, the task of rescuing American soldiers was largely carried out by the military's Joint Personnel Recovery Agency. But Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has recommended that the agency's parent command in Virginia be closed. If the recovery agency is shut down, Blackbird would likely pick up the rescue business as it is outsourced. In that case, recovery of captured or stranded American soldiers "won't be a military command anymore; it will be a business," said the former Special Operations command aide (an agency spokesman said, "It's too early to say what will happen.")

Tim Shorrock is a Washington-based investigative journalist and the author of Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Intelligence Outsourcing, published in 2008 by Simon & Schuster. His articles have appeared in The Atlantic, Salon, Mother Jones, The Nation and many other publications at home and abroad. He can be reached through his website at timshorrock.com.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/dailybeast/1145 ... dhdGVyaGU-

CID1990 wrote:

kalm wrote:The trend toward privatization of the military continues under Obama. Perhaps we can begin outsourcing combat to the Chinese too. This can't be good.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/dailybeast/1145 ... dhdGVyaGU-" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As I have said many times, this is the result of downsizing the military without downsizing the mission.

BOTH the left AND the right are responsible for the mission remaining the same. If we were not in Afghanistan, we would be in Darfur. World police.

SDHornet wrote:Mercs have been used all throughout history. I'm just curious as to why this is a bad thing? Sure our military should be able to handle these things, but if third party companies are handling cooking and stuff like that, why not bid out the actual fighting? Thoughts?

houndawg wrote:

CID1990 wrote:
As I have said many times, this is the result of downsizing the military without downsizing the mission.

BOTH the left AND the right are responsible for the mission remaining the same. If we were not in Afghanistan, we would be in Darfur. World police.

What is the mission, anyway?

As near as I can tell it is: Continue to fail to find Osama bin Laden until we piss away the entire wealth of our nation.