Advertisement
The United States has largely been under the control of the neoconservatives for the past 35 years. They dislike and disrespect government. They laughingly refer to their mission as “bleeding the beast” — that is, orchestrating the transfer of the public dollar from the government to private agencies. Let’s look at the process in work.
Private corporations are to make money and are responsible to their stockholders, not to citizens. Let’s look at companies that are doing much of the government’s work. Blackwater is a private security company working in Iraq. It has 40,000 employees — 20,000 in Iraq. Its owner, at age 38, has become a billionaire. The company charges the U.S. government, per guard, $445,000 a year.
Its employees are called security forces, but when you fight in a foreign country for pay, not as a military person, you are a mercenary.
When Paul Bremer was our man in Baghdad, the cost to provide security for him was $27.3 million for one year. Can you see how we are having trouble keeping people in our military when they can work for the Blackwaters of the world? They report to no government agency and are bound by no international law or military law.
The Tribune encourages letters to the editor on current issues. Please limit letters to 250 words or less.
We reserve the right to edit all letters and require that all letters include the name, address and phone number of the writer for verification purposes.
Letter writers will be limited to no more than one letter a month. Please do not send poetry, or items taken from other publication or from the Internet.
Send letters to the editor to letters@lacrossetribune.com.
