On Blackwater And The Bush Administration

Another interesting and though-provoking, albeit radical, op-ed sent to me by my father today. This one, from Newsweek columnist Michael Hirsch, is called "The Age Of Irresponsibility." He comments on Blackwater USA -- the private army of 30,000 hired by the U.S. to act as a security force in Iraq.

Hirsch paints a pretty bleak picture of the privatization of the Iraq war. Then again, anytime you've got a country's most uneducated people fighting a war (this is a generality, not a sweeping statement... but I mean, only 11% with SOME college experience?), it's almost a certainty that civilians will end up dead. Perhaps America should send only those citizens with the highest levels of education (MBAs, PhDs, JDs, MDs) to Iraq to fight? Perhaps then, we'd hear about fewer Iraqi civilians paying for our government's mistakes....

As my father points out,

"Well, we did try and send college grads, MBAs and PHDs... it was called Vietnam. If we did that again (a draft) the war would be over... come to think of it... it wouldn't have started."

And he's right. Instilling a draft would effectively end this war in Iraq. I don't even think that it should be called a war anymore, because our troops aren't even fighting to accomplish a military goal. When U.S. troops enter/invade a foreign to act as peacekeepers, it really isn't a war.

Obviously my point of view is a very cynical way to look at things, but I am just not surprised by Hirsch's article. In fact, I'm surprised that we don't hear about our troops acting on their own in a manner unbecoming of a soldier more often. I bet the killing of 'innocents' occurs a lot more than we even know. It's sad, really, because before we invaded Iraq (remember, we did INVADE their country), I don't think Americans had any problems with the Iraqi people. But if we have to kill a few hundred (thousand?) innocents while bringing them FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY, well then I guess that's okay. Right?

Um.......... with that attitude, I could get a top job with the Bush administration! Imagine that... I could be a 'top aide' or even Press Secretary!

As always, I digress. Back to Hirsch's article. I don't even really like it. He just seems to be ranting about an obvious issue to the point where I almost stopped reading halfway through. What is he getting at? Is it profound that in a 'war', innocent civilians are killed? Is that surprising? The longer we treat Iraq as a war zone, the more like a war it will become.

What's the alternative, you might ask? That's a very good question...