Explain to me - as if to a child

[Coexist]

why we have to pay $.40 of every dollar of OUR tax dollars meant for Iraq to to private contractors in Iraq.

Explain to me why we pay someone else to peel potatoes.

My dad had no problem with KP - it was part of service.

And isn't it smarter to have someone who can grab a weapon and join the fight ... than a civilian who needs to be protected?

Please explain this to me.

[SoCalDem]

1. because in a 'volunteer' military, you cannot attract people to do menial work

as easily as you can when you lie to them and tell them all that they are "officer material" and that they will probably be stationed in Hawaii:evilgrin:.

They had to offer GOOD jobs in the military in order to attract people to sign up..

When military was drafted, they always had a steady stream of EVERYONE, so there were always plenty of young guys to do the menial work..

[Warpy]

6. Not really.

The push toward privatization and outsourcing has been going on for some time, from the donuts in the mess hall to half the motor pool now. Some of it made sense, like going to a hardware store for nuts and bolts rather than having them made by a defense contractor to military specs for a hundred times the cost. Most of the stuff that is happening now is because the military has been stretched to the breaking point losing two GOP wars.

No, it makes absolutely no sense to use civilians who then must be protected. However, when everybody who can fire a gun is needed to fire a gun, it makes a sick kind of sense.

I think if I were stuck in a fool's errand like a GOP war, I'd wish for KP days.

[Coexist]

10. great post - nice thoughts.

[Kagemusha]

2. Honestly, unless bases are being overrun by the enemy, that's irrelevant.

Cooks grabbing rifles and joining the fight? That's just totally besides the point.

But the simple truth is that it's like this because Republicans want it this way, because it makes profiting from war easier. If war doesn't bring profits, what's the whole point? If it's not a racket, what's the whole point? The idea of private industry not benefiting from military endeavors strikes Republicans as strange. They have neo-Roman thinking. Since we don't have colonies and slave plantations, they need to find other methods to benefit, and military privatization is one.

[havocmom]

3. If the military were still allowed to provide basic necessities, they wouldn't be captive

See, they were actually kidnapped. If we don't keep writing checks to the bad guys in executive suites, they tell their employees to stop feeding the troops and stop providing them with filthy water to drink.

And without all those private convoys to escort, the military wouldn't be using so many bullets. Selling bullets is BIG.

Then, some private company sells all those boxes.... :cry:

[htuttle]

4. Outsourcing war, while much more expensive financially, is far cheaper politically

Since they've been able to just borrow the money they want, they worry more about the political cost nowdays.

And probably just as importantly, it allows them to move billions federal dollars into the coffers of businesses affiliated with The Family.

[FormerDittoHead]

9. Not just the war. My SS region manager friend says they outsource computer programmers @$75/hour...

They're not allowed to hire anyone - but paying TRW $75 an hour (and you can bet that the PROGRAMMER doesn't make $75 an hour) is fine...

[Fleshdancer]

5. Isn't war profiteering FUN???

:sarcasm:

Seriously though, I really do believe this admin believes that an institution isn't worthy unless you can purchase stock and make millions from it.

One of the millions of things that pisses me off about this is that the same a**holes in govt who beat their fists on the podium and demand respect for our troops are the same ones supporting the use of mercenaries. I can't think of a more disrespectful thing to do to the soldiers in Iraq who have no choice, less pay and no control over what the hired guns do or say.

[Kelly Rupert]

7. Well, first of all, 40% of tax revenue does not go to private contractors.

Half of all federal spending goes to entitlement programs, actually. The Pentagon--that is, all military spending--gets 21%.

That said, the answer is fairly obviously "because we don't have enough soldiers, and nobody wants a draft."

[Coexist]

8. 40% of all money going to Iraq. They just stated that in the hearing.

[Kelly Rupert]

11. Which is quite different from

"$.40 of every dollar of OUR tax dollars."

Plus, that includes construction firms and the like; reconstruction and economic development is a major cash-sink in Iraq, and our army simply isn't equipped to do that. This is not a nation-building force we have, and it was never intended to be. It isn't meant to occupy a hostile country, and it isn't meant to rebuild a country. It was designed to deter China and to quickly nullify wars of aggression between two other powers. This is something of a predictable outcome when you send an army to do a job it wasn't designed for.

[Jim__]

12. 21% is budgeted military spending. Neither the war in Iraq nor the war

in Afghanistan are included in the budget.

[donsu]

13. Blackwater is the bushmilhousegang's (neo cons) military

they have scammed us into paying for it and if we upset this gang of criminals they will use them on us. of course charging us for it.

[madokie]

14. cronies and money

trumps all in bushco* world

[Mountainman]

15. Because republicans got control of the government.