Tuesday, November 2, 2004

Outsourcing the war in Iraq

We seem to be avoiding a draft at least temporarily by hiring mercenary soldiers - or goon squads, more correctly.

Where's the justice in this? Why are members of the unit responsible for gunning down school children in Soweto are being offered salaries as little as $1,000 and would-be mercenaries from El Salvador being offered $1,700 -- while commando's who had trained under Pinochet are being offered as much as $4,000? Since Bremer signed a bunch of orders just before his performace art piece called "transfer of sovereignty," isn't it fair for progressives to ask why no equal pay for equal work provisions were included in these orders? After all, if the man can ban the honking of horns and lift controls on capital flight, why couldn't he ensure South African mercenaries --who have a track records as fine as Pinochet's goons-- received a fair piece of the action?
Zeynep post (embedded links are available in the post)

I think I've said this before, but I don't think this plan will work, and I don't think it will last very long. I could be wrong. I was once.

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