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Post Fiend
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From: Ohio
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I have to do a topic for english. I have to argue a postion. My professor said a good topic to write about would be about the blackwater incident. Why are contractors like black water over in iraq? Also, what exactly happend in the blackerwater incident?
Post Fiend
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is your professor a lib or con?
contracters are in iraq because someone thought it was a great idea to reduce the size of our armed forces to save money, only to turn around and spend billions more on hiring poeple to fill the roles.
blackwater incident is the iraqi government trying to find one little fault with something (and saying it is a fault is stretching it) and then harping all over it and basically using the blackwater incident to take the spotlight off themsleves on why their government can not functionat all years after it was formed.
if your professor is a lib, find another topic
contracters are in iraq because someone thought it was a great idea to reduce the size of our armed forces to save money, only to turn around and spend billions more on hiring poeple to fill the roles.
blackwater incident is the iraqi government trying to find one little fault with something (and saying it is a fault is stretching it) and then harping all over it and basically using the blackwater incident to take the spotlight off themsleves on why their government can not functionat all years after it was formed.
if your professor is a lib, find another topic
Posting Guru
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From: Princeton, MN
IMO - Contractors like blackwater are in Iraq because they can specialize in situations and scenarios that the military is not set up to handle. My understanding is that they handle security for private business people/corporations/construction sites, tranportation of dignitaries whether private or government, etc. There is a lot more to be done than what the military has resources for. The military can't handle the battles as well as private security. And as long as the contractors are security experts, the government decides to hire them for their security needs as well rather than dedicate troops away from their duties/ patrols.
Government Teat-sucker
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From: Virginia Beach
Expand your topic to include reasons why it might be better (or worse) to privatize things like security in Iraq. While it may seem like the military is wasting money on contracting out things we could easily do ourselves, perhaps there are things that we aren't seein from our perspective:
-Military members often have their hands tied with legal mumbo jumbo.
-Civilians can concentrate on doing one sigle job while military members often have to do collateral duties in their off time.
-Private contractors can stay in the shadows much easier than military can- less bad publicity.
Just a couple of thoughts for you. Hope it helps
-Military members often have their hands tied with legal mumbo jumbo.
-Civilians can concentrate on doing one sigle job while military members often have to do collateral duties in their off time.
-Private contractors can stay in the shadows much easier than military can- less bad publicity.
Just a couple of thoughts for you. Hope it helps
Post Fiend
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From: Charlotte, NC
Originally Posted by bf250
contracters are in iraq because someone thought it was a great idea to reduce the size of our armed forces to save money, only to turn around and spend billions more on hiring poeple to fill the roles.
Post Fiend
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From: Charlotte, NC
Originally Posted by stu37d
While it may seem like the military is wasting money on contracting out things we could easily do ourselves, perhaps there are things that we aren't seein from our perspective:
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Government Teat-sucker
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From: Virginia Beach
Originally Posted by cmpd1781
Don't the individual 'employers' pay the contracts of the contractors?......(i.e. the State Department, ExxonMobil, local businessmen, etc.).....I don't think the Military is footing that bill, except for contracts that DOD puts out theirself.......
Would you rather have our commanders forced to allocate their soldiers and marines to State Department weenies as 'bodyguards'?.....Or would you rather they stay with their units and conduct combat operations?......Personally, I'd rather the highly-paid mercs do the babysitting for diplomats, businessmen, etc.......
Post Fiend
Joined: Jun 2002
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From: Atlanta GA
> Why are contractors like black water over in iraq
We do not have enough troops to fill all the positions or ones with enough knowledge of infrastructure rebuilding. Some thing like driving tanker trucks full of commercial gas shipments are not a solider's job, or rebuilding oil pipes, as examples.
It is not a solider's job to escort highly paid civilians through a war zone either, imo.
A lot of people over there are interpreters.
Look what the job posting someone did here in FTE was about to get an idea of what is needed.
We do not have enough troops to fill all the positions or ones with enough knowledge of infrastructure rebuilding. Some thing like driving tanker trucks full of commercial gas shipments are not a solider's job, or rebuilding oil pipes, as examples.
It is not a solider's job to escort highly paid civilians through a war zone either, imo.
A lot of people over there are interpreters.
Look what the job posting someone did here in FTE was about to get an idea of what is needed.
Post Fiend
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Originally Posted by cmpd1781
Would you rather have our commanders forced to allocate their soldiers and marines to State Department weenies as 'bodyguards'?.....Or would you rather they stay with their units and conduct combat operations?......Personally, I'd rather the highly-paid mercs do the babysitting for diplomats, businessmen, etc.......
the military does have people trained as body guards as i was one of them, but they never used me or any of my people in that aor, just around europe.
the gov by now should know that there is a need for high level body guards that can also fall under the military. the embassies all have Marine security detachments there for security so i do not see why that would not be extended to guarding vips.
if businesses want private security contracters, so be it but the government has the largest security force in the world, the military, so they should use it.
plus contracting due to military cuts is just not in security, it has spread into every area of the military complex. jobs that use to be for military personel have turned into civilian positions. that hurts many as it gives less options for duty stations and gives less chances for advancment because many of the more typical senior positions were made civilain thus eleimanting the need for that billet and reducing the amount of people needed to advance the ranks.
contracters defintly do have a need, and they do quite well when needed, but i feel they are used way too much. the shear numbers of them in iraq give clue to that.
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Post Fiend
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From: Ohio
thanks for all ur info. I am still writing about the same topic but have changed my arugement based on the info that i have found. It seems that after the congressional hearing that took place, the state department questioned the cost effective ness of Blackwater. My arguement is , since this is a arguing a postion paper, is that i believe that it is worth it because the military alone can not alone handle this task in protecting high end gov officials, etc that are traveling iraq.
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