Every spring thousands of daffodils fill the yards and the fields around the tiny town of Massies Mill. They crop up next to the roads and in low-lying cow pastures. Why are they here?These are not your ordinary spring flowers. Back in 1969 Hurricane Camille washed away most of the town and many of its inhabitants. Long term residents of the region still relate stories of entire families being lost in mudslides, orphaned boys being plucked from trees, and of boulders crashing down the Buffalo. The daffodils are what Camille left behind.
I've been told that a more recent flood covered roads and field with pumpkins. There were even pumpkins caught up in trees. And just last year a flash flood blocked all the paved roads, and the only way to get home was by detouring on dirt roads and taking a short hike through a patch of woods with a borrowed flashlight. I was concerned about my dogs, and not without reason. It turned out that a neighbor did lose a dog in that incident. And another neighbor found a dog.
My few hours of anxiety and inconvenience can hardly be compared to the experiences of those who lived through Camille. Or Katrina. I'm a little more mindful of why we need solid and reliable infrastructure, and that's the political connection. For starters, if I ever need a first responder, that person is very likely to be a committed Republican. I won't care. Furthermore, if I break down or have an accident anywhere close by, odds are that the person in the first car to come by will offer assistance without regard to partisan bumper stickers. And for all the talk, knowing the basics of first aid is a more important civic responsibility than voting.
In large scale domestic disasters and crises, we've traditionally relied on the National Guard and volunteer humanitarian relief agencies such as the Red Cross. After Katrina there was discussion on the appropriateness of a military response, but also whether or not the National Guard was capable of a truly effective domestic response since all resources were stretched so thin. There doesn't seem to be a manpower issue when it comes to guarding our southern border. But with Katrina, it seemed that just about everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.
Advocating for a Strong and Stable Military
For many of us, the war is little more than water cooler talk. The military is populated by young strangers, abstractions, and associated with clever ways of expressing outrage at the Bush administration.
How many of us have voiced the opinion that Bush's daughters should have signed up? Or for that matter that any able-bodied pro-war citizen should do the same? We talk about chickenhawks, the body armor issues, stop loss in addition to many other outrages. Because we support the troops but not the war.
During time of peace, a strong military can become a low political priority, until the next time that strength needed, whether literally or as a deterrent. Jim Webb has advocated not only for a strong military, but also for effective leadership, both military and political, that genuinely supports the troops. His advocacy has transcended partisan politics, and to some this has been played negatively rather than as a strength. It has been Republican leaders that have failed most dismally to deliver in the leadership arena.
On Oliver North:
Webb called a press conference at the Vietnam Memorial. With five other Vietnam veterans, including Sen. Bob Kerry, who lost a leg in Vietnam, Webb blasted North and endorsed Robb. "The six men," according to Timberg, "took turns accusing North of habitual lying and sullying his oath of office by misleading Congress."Without naming them, Webb questions the integrity of Republican presidential candidates such as Robert Dole and Phil Gramm for coming to Virginia and publicly supporting North to win a Senate seat for Republicans.
Webb writes, "There is no greater example of how corrupt the process is than to watch people who still privately condemn Mr. North at the same time publicly endorse him for the Senate. The message they are sending is that conduct which betrays the public trust can be excused if political expediency is at stake."
"What message are we sending ... by this sort of equivalence? That you don't lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate among you anyone who does - unless you need to gain control of the Senate?" [1]
Webb viewed the attack on the USS Cole as unnecessary and the result of failed leadership. He knew that the Yemen port was dangerous, and reasonably expected that those in charge should have considered that fact. In response to the Al Qaeda attack on the USS Cole:
There is general agreement among the experts that, given the large number of women in combat billets, the next time the United States fights a large-scale ground war, women may die in large numbers. Also, analysts say, the nature of warfare is changing, making rear areas almost as vulnerable as the front lines, so that even if more combat slots aren't opened to women, they still are likely to be exposed to hostile fire.It remains to be seen what the public reaction will be then, said John Sibley Butler, a military sociologist at the University of Texas at Austin who served as a combat medic during the Vietnam War. He noted that on certain bad days in Vietnam, he sometimes put more dead soldiers in body bags than were killed aboard the Cole.
But former Navy secretary James Webb says an opposite, colder reaction may occur. He worries that 25 years of an all-volunteer force have left most Americans feeling distant from their armed services, and so perhaps less concerned by casualties.
"They respect the military," said Webb. "But with the volunteer system, fewer and fewer Americans have any personal stakes when our people go into harm's way." [2]
Failed Leadership, Mismanaged Military and a Bad Patch Job
If the Red Cross had problems getting into New Orleans, hired mercenaries did not. [3]
Yes, there are delays and cover-ups in investigating military atrocities in a war zone, but it appears that the paramilitaries are not even investigated. Furthermore, why are foreign nationals permitted to wander our streets with M-16s?
Here's another link talking about some of the problems with these guys.
These groups are an outgrowth of the Soldiers of Fortune magazine crowd. In the early 80's, the magazine could be found in K-mart. One of the covers showed a large pyramid of human skulls. Next to it was one of these bozos, proudly posing with these trophies. These guys used to be called wannabes. Now that they have jobs, technically they are wannabes no longer. This is the image they are trying to shake. And to be fair, some of these guys cannot find decent employment elsewhere. Perhaps they have been laid off?
Since these corporations are playing an increasing role in military affairs, it would be interesting to know whether or not they discriminate on the basis of gender or sexual orientation, especially in combat roles.
Recalling how IT trade organizations ITAA and ACIP were able to turn an alleged worker shortage into a necessity of competing in a global economy in the span of just a few years, there is more than a little cause for concern. Political contributions among this crowd tend to be individual. Reading the list of recipients of Blackwater's billionairre Erik Prince's generous donations, Spence Abraham is there, but also Santorum and Delay.
The hallmarks of aggressive marketing under radical redefinition are there as well. The mercs, too, have their very own trade organization International Peace Operations Association . How's that for a concept? The commodification of Peace and Stability paving the way for the privatization and injection of free trade into Defense.
Here's their mission statement.
IPOA is committed to maintaining industry-wide standards to ensure sound and ethical professional and military practices in the conduct of peacekeeping and post-conflict reconstruction activities. All member companies subscribe to our Code of Conduct, based on the belief that high standards will both benefit the industry and serve the greater causes of human security and development.
Innocent civilians form an overwhelming majority of the victims in low-intensity conflicts around the world. Alleviating their suffering and bringing long-lasting solutions to these conflicts is one of the most serious challenges facing the foreign policy community in the 21st century. IPOA believes private companies and organizations specializing in peace operations can make a major contribution to this effort by providing fast, successful and cost effective solutions.
I've run out of time for now, and apologize for not including a careful explanation as to why the privitization of the military is a bad idea.
Here are a couple of books on the subject:
-- The Market for Force : The Consequences of Privatizing Security by Debra D. Avant
[1] Nov. 13 1995: The Plain Dealer. That Guy in the Library is OK. George Eppley.
[2] October, 2000: Washington Post. 'Killed in Action': Is Gender an Issue?; Lack of Specific Outcry Over Cole Women's Deaths Splits Experts, Thomas E. Ricks and Steve Vogel.
[3] September, 2005: The Nation. BlackWater Down, Jeremy Scahill.
All of Kathy's posts have been extraordinary, I feel she should be promoted.
Just my $.02
There is also a very tiny park and memorial near the river thanks to the Sierra Club.
So, on top of the gigantic problem of lack of accountability of private military, there is the very real prospect of having special forces, some of whom the military spends a million dollars apiece training, being siphoned off to private military companies.
The privatization wave for all kinds of duties that used to be performed by U.S. military personnel, which accompanied the institution of a volunteer force in the late 1970s, hands more and more control to corporations and their friends inside the government. That same period has seen a massive growth in corporate influence over Congress and the executive branch generally, on military and non-military matters.
The volunteer force and the reserve system were intended to be a political check on exactly the kind of reckless, open-ended intervention that the Iraq invasion and occupation represent. Instead, privatization has become a way of getting around those political checks -- fighting wars with unaccountable, shadowy private forces.
"Shadow Company" is a new documentary on private military in Iraq (as well as Sierra Leone and a few other locations). Here's an interview with the filmmaker.
I think of them as wannabes, but that really isn't accurate so I'll try to be careful about the difference.
I just read that 458 contractors have died in Iraq.
hmm.. I was wondering what happened to all of those military type survivalist groups.
And here from sourcewatch.org
The mission of the International Peace Operations Association is to promote high standards in the peace and stability industry and inform the public and policy-makers about skilled private companies and their contributions to international peace and human security.
--- Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs) by P. W. SingerComments
