Contractors and the Government

Totally agree with Michael on this. In contrast to Blackwater, which has some of the highest quality people in the world working for them, the vast majority of government contractors are low end body shops that field vast hordes of unqualified people. Form this alone, I'm pretty sure the anger at Blackwater is being misdirected.

Comments

[rfgunning]

So isn't that the point, though? If these issues arise with the highest quality people, what about all those others?

[Tangurena]

I suspect that the Blackwater "discussions" are proxies for discussions about US troops in Iraq. We've had years of the MSM/republican'ts beating up the democrats about "loyalty" and "patriotism" for questioning the "decider." Which is why all the candidates for US president are currently trying to out-butch each other about attacking/nuking Iran: "I will nuke Iran" followed by "I will nuke Iran harder!" ending in something like "I can name that tune in 2 notes."

If Talibani and Maliki said they wanted US troops out, they'd end up with a bullet in their heads. The closest that they can come to saying such a thing is "blackwater go home." And the extra-legality of blackwater (thanks to Bremer's dictats) is an extra sticking point as well.

Blackwater has a rep over there for being trigger happy thugs. If people consider them to be "high quality," then I shudder to think just how rotten "low quality" can be. And if those thugs are even remotely near "high quality" then we're doomed. They only got those no-bid contracts due to personal connections at the whitehouse, and not due to any actual ability to do the job.

[Marcello]

"So isn't that the point, though? If these issues arise with the highest quality people, what about all those others?"

Well, that's precisely why the Landsknechts and their ilk went out of businness a long time ago.
That these bands of unruly thugs have been brought back from the dustbin of history where they rightfully belong is a testament to the degree of corruption in the government and the soviet style adherence to free market ideology.
Last I heard the USG was paying blood money for blackwater victims and had to raise pay to retain at least some experienced SF guys. Effectively spending money to compete against itself. Remember: privatize profits and socialize losses.