Current Affairs 28 Nov 2005 01:35 pm
The trouble with mercenaries
I’ve been thinking about the issue of soldiers-for-hire, or "military contractors" or, just plain mercenaries, which is what they are, and what I will call them from now on. One of the things that has made the Iraq war unique has been the way the US has depended upon mercenaries to do a wide range of tasks in Iraq. From being bodyguards, to interrogation, to security details, these soldiers-for-hire are an essential part of the war, and, I imagine, it would be difficult for our military to pull off the war without them (there is a nice review of this at the website for the PBS show, Frontline, they did a episode called "Private Warriors")
You might have heard about the newest troubling news about mercenaries. There is a video making its way across the net, which seems to show some of them randomly shooting at Iraqi civilians as if they were doing target practice. (This video, although it is not in any way gory, since everything is at a distance, is nonetheless extremely disturbing, between what it portrays, and that someone actually felt it appropriate to release this video with an upbeat soundtrack.)
Indeed, there have been problems between the US military and mercenaries for a while in Iraq. Although it’s not altogether clear what the problems are. It even seems that one military officer might have taken his own life, in part because ethics issues with mercenaries.
The major problem of free market capitalism from my perspective is that the markets, when dealing with life and death issues, really don’t do the job well, and in a way that is of positive benefit to people. This is because, in the end, the most important thing is money, not people. So when push comes to shove, whether it be in who gets hired, or what happens, the bottom line is the bottom line, not things like ethics, or the greater good for humans or the planet.
The Iraq war from the get go was unjust and unethical. But if you leave that aside for a moment, it is my argument that even in a just war (I’m not sure that one of those exists, but that’s a subject for another post,) the use of mercenaries will always be unethical, because their goal is simply to turn a profit. Ethics will always lose an argument with the bottom line, and that is something, whether it be in war, health care, or agriculture, is a big problem.