Deaths of scores of mercenaries not reported - Iraq

1) In a war zone.
2) Carry guns.
3) Get paid. Well.
4) Shoot people their employers tell them to shoot.
5) Aren't tried for murder (as far as we know to this point).

Yup, Mercs.

So what.

No governments pay any attention to the Geneva or Hague Conventions untill it suits them anyway.

If this is the worst spin the admin and contractors have done then they are being extremly honest for a government operation.

A couple other points to think about. Some of these guys are certainly working for some intelligence agencies and don't want any publicity.
The ones killed probably didn't want the news media swooping in like vultures on their families. We all know that is exactly what would happen.

so which is it?
"at least 18,000 mercenaries are in iraq..."
- or -
"as many as 10,000...."



the whole point is moot anyways. the bottom line is that U.S. Marines and "Soldiers For Hire" will continue to become casualties until the USA leaves that sandbox.


as far as i'm concerned the job over there has been accomplished.

Hired to be cannon fodder, imho. These guys are there to buffer the death and casualty count for PR purposes.

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Exactly right. And why pay a soldier his typical pay to drive a truck when you can hire somebody for many times more who if killed will not show up as a casualty on the news?

I still don't get what the outrage is here.

Usually I can at least tell what point is being made.

Seriously, I know one of the leftist bloggers (Daily Kos) said "screw 'em" about the dead "mercenaries" but as far as I can tell even the leftists aren't accusing them of being "death squads".

Soldier of Fortune magazine has already had a couple of articles about the various private security types now working in Iraq. Quite a number of photos, with a good bit of focus on the various weapons preferred. Since the lead time of their articles is some three to four months, this "news" is rather old hat, seems to me.

Art

Don't want to seem callous about the dead or disrespectful but the liberal media will do anything to get the death count up and make Bush look bad . . . . . the same people who want your guns also believe that there are no necessary wars.

Those of us not living in Utopia realize that's not quite true.

My father had an interesting comment, he said that during WWII there were something like several hundred dead PER DAY.

Why, exactly, should we believe these claims?

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Because w4rma cut-n-pasted it, that's why.

so which is it?
"at least 18,000 mercenaries are in iraq..."
- or -
"as many as 10,000...."

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Regardless of the number the death rate, assuming that the 80 figure is correct, is as follows:

80 / 18000 = 0.0044%

80 / 10000 = 0.0080%

The figures are negligible but are being touted as significant by the usual suspect(s) who operate(s) in the realm of emotion driven news.

80 out of 10,000 or 80 out of 18,000 being "cannon fodder"? That is the nuttiest thing you have yet posted w4rma. These guys allow real troops to be freed up to do the significant fighting. They are doing a real job that gets real results. The fact that you have no respect for either them or the soldiers they assist is sickening.

You folks always take the bait...

sometimes ignoring is better.

I disagree. We are in a two front war. The terrorists and the leftists. The terrorists we can and must kill. We can only shout down the left.

You can only shout down someone that is listening.

I'm out of here.

We can only shout down the left.

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erm that's sort of wishful thinking

The left may wish to embolden our enemies for their own political gain, but the left are not fundamentalist Islamic fanatics. If the left wins, they will be the next targets. And what cowering targets they will be. God help us if they prevail.

I tired searching and had no luck. Does anyone know of the companies that contract out mercs? Website links, etc?

$365K/year to drive a truck and fire FULL AUTO?

Hell, that's about $550K/year with SEMI-auto and

About $765K/year with bolt-action and

$1 million a year with no gun, just the truck.

My wife will send me, option 4.

Halliburton is using mercs, but they contract out the work to a NC firm. Call Halliburton's HQ in Dallas and inquire. Eventually you'll find out who the contractor is.

Finch

The company is Blackwater Security Consultants.

Go HERE for an article and discussion.

Here is Blackwater's webpage http://www.blackwatersecurity.com/

and HERE

and HERE

CNN Article

WP article . They must be doing a good job.


Blackwater commandos and a U.S. soldier defend the Coalition Provisional Authority headquarters in Najaf. (Coalition Provisional Authority)

CNN article

Go HERE for a list of audio links containing "Blackwater" on NPR.

WP article

PHOTO

Hope that's enough fer ya.

I'm curious; does Bush's ban on media coverage of dead soldiers returning from Iraq also apply to these "mercenaries"? Are you guys sure we're even allowed to talk about this? Maybe we'd better move to a "free speech zone".


Lets see...

Problem: Media coverage of U.S. military casualties in Iraq is bad for re-election.

Solution: Allow firms on U.S. payroll to hire private security forces for high-risk duties. Send bill to U.S. taxpayers.