Petraeus wants more
Certainly, he's right. I'm sure he'd rather have Shinseki's "several hundred thousand."
I wish I could hear the tone of this.
Related: The WaPo has a huge frontpager on contractors.
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Petraeus, who met with Defense Secretary Robert Gates at a morning breakfast, also said that while he doesn't have all the American troops he might want, he knows he's got all he's going to get.
I wish I could hear the tone of this.
Related: The WaPo has a huge frontpager on contractors.
Private security companies, funded by billions of dollars in U.S. military and State Department contracts, are fighting insurgents on a widening scale in Iraq, enduring daily attacks, returning fire and taking hundreds of casualties that have been underreported and sometimes concealed, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials and company representatives.....
The security industry's enormous growth has been facilitated by the U.S. military, which uses the 20,000 to 30,000 contractors to offset chronic troop shortages.
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posted by mikevotes at
7:09 AM
3 Comments:
I find this disturbing news.
First, I feel contractors should be used for such things as transport and construction, etc.; activities that are largely civilian in nature. The use of "security" contractors I find troubling. It is a quagmire in it's own right. Fundamentally, I feel if a country is unable to filed a proper army, then it has, by definition, over grabbed. We, the United States of America, are either at war or we are not. You simply don't sub-contract your military.
And where do these mercenaries go when the party's over? Working for government figures in Pakistan, Afghanistan, UAE?
By
-epm, at 8:55 AM
You have to admire the difficulty of Petraeus’ mission. He knows he doesn’t have enough troops to complete a mission that he knows is doomed to fail.
The stated mission of the Surge is to give breathing room to the Iraqi Parliament, but the unofficial mission is to give the Administration time to formulate an end strategy. That is pathetically tragic.
By
Anonymous, at 1:12 PM
EPM, I agree on the contractors. I would also add security for the Iraqi politicians and such.
Just speculation, I would expect alot of these US contractors to end up in security jobs, but lot of the foreigners will just go on to other conflicts. There is a market out there.
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Mustard, but does that make him a good general or a bad general?
In my head, I often compare this to "take that hill." Even in the direst of circumstances, some military officer can be found who is willing to "take that hill" regardless of cost or liklihood of success.
As to your bigger point, they only have goals. They know the end state they want, and are willing to engage in anyone's strategy if it can be sold as getting them there.
The problem starts from the assessment of what is possible.
By
mikevotes, at 1:42 PM
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