America's private mercenaries / corperate soldiers? Is this true ?

Question

Quoteing from the Toronto Star (Jan 29) page A 13

"But in this case the slain were niether "civilians" as the news reports proclaimed nor soldiers. They were highly trained mercenaries deployed to Iraq by a secretive private military company based in North Carolina - Blackwater USA
Already these private contractors constitute the second largest force in Iraq.
At last count there were 100,000 contractors there of which 48,000 work as private soldiers acording to the Government acountability office report
These soldiers op[erate with no oversight or effective legal constraints

Such power in the hands of one company run by a bankroller of the president embodies the "military industrial comples president Dwight Eiesenhower warned against in 1961.
Further privatising the American war machine or inventing new back doors for military expansion with fancy names like Civilian reserve corps would represent a blow to the future of American democracy.

The above (edited for brevity) is ve3ry scary . The concept of private soldiers that have no legal restraints that work for profit etc etc .

Are you Americans sure you aren't a facist state or getting very close to being one?

r1b1c*

By virtue of the British North America act Canada was given Dominion status by Her Majesty Queen Victoria (1867). Thus the concepts and freedoms of English common law and the Magna Carter were aforded to those loyal to the crown and the Empire .

None of that and none of what you wrote come close to adressing very serious problems that seem to be coming form the United States massive punitive and seemingly facist ocupation forces that are trampling human rights and making a mockery out of every thing the US of A says it holds dear.

Please try to answer the question instead of turning into some dead lectureing historian that belongs in a classroom . Please ?

m1a1mikeg...

I highly suggest you take it up with them "Toronto Star " Toronto Ontario 1 Younge St . Google them and you will get a phone # . Let me know how that turns out .

It could be that they being in a different nation than the US of A are free to report the truth without fear of political reprisal ?

Answer 1

Yes it is true no belife other then MONEY

Answer 2

Well, there are private military companies (mercenaries) all over the world. The French Foreign Legion is classified as a private military/mercenaries, and has operated for decades. The US Blackwater and other companies, claim to be security personnel and not mercenaries, are getting the lime light now, and maybe they should. There is a great danger with not restricting, or closely watching the actions of private companies and war zones. If the US government contracts these individuals, they then fall under military law. The problem is private companies hire them, and therefore it gets murky. The government of the country they are in has the authority to limit their authority, and actions allowed legally.

Answer 3

Not entirely Blackwater is bank rolled by a single individual, a Navy vet who's parents left him a sizable fortune at the age of 16. They are a private security firm who are contracted by major corporations for security of shipments, higher ups, etc. They also except government contracts. I'm still trying to find a application for them!!

Mercenaries have been around for centuries and are extremely useful. Its not like the movies.

Answer 4

Something you need to remember is that mercenaries served in the army of the King of Ur two millennia before Christ; the ancient Greeks supplemented their forces by contracting out for cavalry and for specialists in the slingshot; and private bands of Swiss pikemen, infantry with 18-foot-long weapons, proved themselves superior to cavalry in the late 13th century and made themselves a necessary expense to the warring rulers of Europe for hundreds of years. Heck,the British hired 30,000 German Hessians to help them battle the revolutionaries in the American War of Independence..

''Private security company'' (or P.S.C.) is the term they prefer. They employees are made up of ex-soldiers , cops etc. They are hired to guard the American corporations struggling to carry out Iraq's reconstruction. The private gunmen try to hold the insurgents at bay so that supplies can be delivered and power stations can be built. And companies like Triple Canopy shield American government compounds from attack.. And this bothers you why..??

Answer 5

Blackwater is nothing more than an elite security company. And they do have to follow US law.

Apparently your country's newspapers do not believe in fair and accurate reporting.

Actually, the US has freedom of the press as a basic right written into our Constitution. Do you really know so little about the United States that you think that it is even possible to have government reprisal of our news media?

And if you are foolish enough to believe that newspaper article without checking facts - that is your problem.

Answer 6

the old Red Star is really starting to go off the deep end these days, whipping this kind of cheap sensationalist stuff -- you might consider balancing out your reading by looking at a few other sources and question whether or not that old rag is really credible any more

Answer 7

certain there are. yet maximum are used for help jobs. they are those construction various the colleges and hospitals. There are some like Blackwater that are military depending, although they are extra often than not used for safe practices component of VIPs

Answer 8

There have been mercenaries in every major war since antiquity.
By the way Blackwater is not all that secretive.

Answer 9

ALL countries have privet mercenaries, not just the U.S.A. Even liberal countries like France. But, WOW you uncovered a BIG American Secret ! ! ! ! Where the hell have you been hiding for the last twenty years?

Answer 10

You mean United Statesian bud, get it right.

you see, there is no such a thing as ‘American’ nationality, America is not a nation America is a continent with many nations in it. The US never named itself the name of the United States is a designation it comes from the end of the Declaration of Independence, "WE, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in GENERAL CONGRESS, Assembled...". The preamble to the U.S. Constitution reiterated the phrase: "We the People of the United States..." (The authors of these two documents probably used the phrase "united states" in place of a list of colonies/states because they remained uncertain at the time of drafting which colonies/states would sign off on the sentiments therein.) The geographic term "America" specifies the states' home on the American continent.

It is therefor incorrect to refer to US citizens as Americans with the intent of denoting citizenship, or the United States as America with the intent of denoting a nation. Americans have a term for US citizens, we are called United Statesians by the rest of Americans, to say American with the intent of denoting citizenship or America when we mean the United States reflects poorly on our attitude towards the 70% of Americans that are not United Statesians.

Also, although some people would like to believe that America is not one but two continents North America and South America. If you think about it though the term U.S. of A. is a glaring example that this line of thought is incorrect, if America was two continents instead of one, shouldn’t it be U.S. of N.A. (North America)? We say Columbus discovered..... ? AMERICA, not South America or North America.

Hope that helps.

Answer 11

they took active part in the scandel of abu greaib.i have seen many of them as bodsyguards of the iraqi top officials who fear even going out of the green zone.