Thursday, August 19, 2004
Blowback from the Free-Market War
Using mercenaries to fight your battles is not a new concept. Ancient Chinese rulers as well as the Roman Empire in its waning centuries made full use of non-citizen armies to defend their borders, garrison their outposts, and conquer new territory. This history extends even to our own shores--those hungover Hessians Washington surprised on Christmas Day after famously crossing the Delaware were in it for the Sterling more than any devotion to King George. Even the famous Swiss Guards at the Vatican (Look out, he's got a pike and a frou-frou hat!) are an imported army.
Mercenaries got a bad reputation in the last century as wars were fought for country and ideology more than cold hard cash. Still, in recent years they've been reprieved and their image somewhat rehabilitated, especially during the GOP-led privatization craze of the last two decades. Hey, if you can outsource local trash collection why not activities that had generally fallen under auspices of the military?
The book Private Warriors, written in 2000 about the arms trade, the rise in private security companies (read private standing armies), and the former military and defense contractors who organize this immoral if-not-illicit trade is perhaps the most famous recent study of this phenomenon. Even these authors, however, didn't envision the scope to which so much of the support and logistics of the United States Army would now involve groups outside of direct Pentagon command and control during the Iraq War. Does anyone really think Halliburton and Kellogg, Brown and Root are in it for God, Mom, and apple pie?
Outside of an ideological preference for privatization, of course, the big benefit of using mercenaries has always been the lack of accountability they provide. But this is a double-edged sword, as their overseers have often found in the past and as the Bush administration may soon be learning.
In a remote docket in Afghanistan right now is American Jonathan Idema, on trial for running an unauthorized bounty-hunter and prison operation in that country. As this linked BBC article indicates, Mr. Idema, dressed always in desert khakis adorned with American flags, is an outspoken, flamboyant person who could easily be dismissed as some Rambo-type wingnut on a personal mission to rid the Middle East of some 'bad guys' and pocket some cash at the same time.
From the beginning of his confinement Idema has strenuously maintained that he was working with the approval of some of America's highest authorities including the FBI, CIA, and Pentagon--links which the US government and military have adamantly denied.
Word now comes that files which Idema claimed were confiscated from him at the time of his arrest and which would prove his innocence (or at least connection to US agencies) would be released by the FBI. This case has proven embarrassing to both TeamBush and the Afghan government although to date it has largely flown under the radar screen in the States. This may change if these files show even a tenuous link between US agencies and Idema's group that he maintains always existed.
Using mercenaries to fight your battles is not a new concept. Ancient Chinese rulers as well as the Roman Empire in its waning centuries made full use of non-citizen armies to defend their borders, garrison their outposts, and conquer new territory. This history extends even to our own shores--those hungover Hessians Washington surprised on Christmas Day after famously crossing the Delaware were in it for the Sterling more than any devotion to King George. Even the famous Swiss Guards at the Vatican (Look out, he's got a pike and a frou-frou hat!) are an imported army.
Mercenaries got a bad reputation in the last century as wars were fought for country and ideology more than cold hard cash. Still, in recent years they've been reprieved and their image somewhat rehabilitated, especially during the GOP-led privatization craze of the last two decades. Hey, if you can outsource local trash collection why not activities that had generally fallen under auspices of the military?
The book Private Warriors, written in 2000 about the arms trade, the rise in private security companies (read private standing armies), and the former military and defense contractors who organize this immoral if-not-illicit trade is perhaps the most famous recent study of this phenomenon. Even these authors, however, didn't envision the scope to which so much of the support and logistics of the United States Army would now involve groups outside of direct Pentagon command and control during the Iraq War. Does anyone really think Halliburton and Kellogg, Brown and Root are in it for God, Mom, and apple pie?
Outside of an ideological preference for privatization, of course, the big benefit of using mercenaries has always been the lack of accountability they provide. But this is a double-edged sword, as their overseers have often found in the past and as the Bush administration may soon be learning.
In a remote docket in Afghanistan right now is American Jonathan Idema, on trial for running an unauthorized bounty-hunter and prison operation in that country. As this linked BBC article indicates, Mr. Idema, dressed always in desert khakis adorned with American flags, is an outspoken, flamboyant person who could easily be dismissed as some Rambo-type wingnut on a personal mission to rid the Middle East of some 'bad guys' and pocket some cash at the same time.
From the beginning of his confinement Idema has strenuously maintained that he was working with the approval of some of America's highest authorities including the FBI, CIA, and Pentagon--links which the US government and military have adamantly denied.
Word now comes that files which Idema claimed were confiscated from him at the time of his arrest and which would prove his innocence (or at least connection to US agencies) would be released by the FBI. This case has proven embarrassing to both TeamBush and the Afghan government although to date it has largely flown under the radar screen in the States. This may change if these files show even a tenuous link between US agencies and Idema's group that he maintains always existed.
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