Mercenary

“Flea on de magadog?” Okay, maybe I’m not actually a parasite. Why mince words, though, when profiteer is such a nice one? The fact is, there’s a huge pile of money to be made here and if the Company don’t rake it, some other outfit will.

In all honesty, this reconstruction operation is little different than any other government program, more designed to benefit the contractors and bureaucrats than the people. Using Iraq as a specific example, by the time These United States gets out of here, assuming we can get out of here within the next few years, we will have spent over one trillion dollars on the effort. Our constructed benefit to Iraq over that time? Perhaps fifty billion dollars (plus seventeen thousand miles of T-walls and enough concertina wire to encircle the earth).

Mix that trillion Dollars around a bit, and it seems that each and every American is on the hook for about $3000. That’s a hefty tax to pay just to send our boys and girls out to kill and be killed by some extremist Arabs. And the kicker. Each Iraqi has “benefited” $40,000. How much peace could we have bought just by giving each and every one of them an envelop full of Benjamins?

There was an entirely different attitude here at the start of this program. There was hope, for one, and the Americans who came here did so because they were hopeful that we could affect a peaceful solution. Rebuilding a country was the most interesting piece of engineering work in the world four years ago. It was exciting work in an exciting environment and, although we were well compensated, I don’t think the people were here for the money nearly so much as they were here for the experience.

Now, there are a scant few idealists remaining. The bulk of the expatriates are mercenaries. Not that we’ve joined some private army, per se. No. It’s just that large numbers of the people are here solely for the money. As it became clear that the Iraq experience would not be one of success, the idealist folks who volunteered for this duty at the start have stopped coming. For this elite group, the potential for great project success brought them here. The money was just a nice bonus.

Now that the war winds well into its fifth losing year, the caliber of expatriates has slipped markedly. It’s no longer the A Team, but some other letter far down the scale.

And they’re mercenaries. Technically good enough at their jobs, but devoid of the passion that could raise the program up a level or two. Even with further uplifts to pay as enticement, they’re the best we can muster. Even with hardened facilities, private rooms, and cable TV, there isn’t enough to draw back those that might have made a real difference here.

This situation is mimicked in the field, where the best and the brightest tradesmen are having a better time in some other corner of the world. What’re left are those who do it for the money, skills be damned. Success be damned. The government side’s the same. The volunteers with the vision have been replaced by those who just need their ticket stamped.

The other side of our local mercenary population (and perhaps the most honest about it) are the contractors who provide security for us. Despite hundreds of soldiers living in Camp Freedom, none of them ever pull guard duty. The gunmen who man the checkpoints, issue badges, and patrol the Motel 6 are Third Country Nationals, typically AK-47 armed Third Worlders supervised by a couple of British companies. The PSD’s who escort the lucky few over the wire are the same – simply guns for hire. Slightly more venomous than the Pakistanis, Napalese, and Iraqis compound guards (in fact, a huge amount more venomous), they’ve mostly usurped the force protection role of the Army here.

Good or bad, I think mercenary armies are the war of the future. The domestic backlash for our failure here will be felt for decades. How much easier will it be for the Congress to issue a multi-billion Dollar Indefinite Deliverable / Indefinite Quantity contract to Halliburton or Bechtel then instruct them to invade Sudan? This keeps the soldiers at home where they belong, but still allows us to pursue our imperialistic dreams.

Iraq is tiring.