shadow company

[LORD of WAR]

was searching on youtube and found a few clips of this documentary

its all about the use of mercenaries and private contracters in todays war

i was wondering if anyone had seen it and if its worth getting???

also...sounds like its gonna be a good project once its completed

www.severeclearthemovie.com

looks pretty intense

do a search for either blackwater, or shadow company on youtube and youll see some pretty good stuff

 

[noelephant]

What are your thoughts on this statement from last nights state of the union address?

"A second task we can take on together is to design and establish a volunteer Civilian Reserve Corps. Such a corps would function much like our military reserve. It would ease the burden on the Armed Forces by allowing us to hire civilians with critical skills to serve on missions abroad when America needs them. And it would give people across America who do not wear the uniform a chance to serve in the defining struggle of our time."

What the heck does this mean? Private mercenaries in Iraq?

I'll watch the clip in a bit, it sounds intersesting.

 

[calsdad]

What are your thoughts on this statement from last nights state of the union address?

"A second task we can take on together is to design and establish a volunteer Civilian Reserve Corps. Such a corps would function much like our military reserve. It would ease the burden on the Armed Forces by allowing us to hire civilians with critical skills to serve on missions abroad when America needs them. And it would give people across America who do not wear the uniform a chance to serve in the defining struggle of our time."

What the heck does this mean? Private mercenaries in Iraq?

I'll watch the clip in a bit, it sounds intersesting.

I didn't have a chance to watch the address - but that is very interesting what he proposed. I would even agree with it - except for the fact that he made the statement "hire civilians with critical skills to serve on missions abroad " - because what I really believe this country needs is a resurrection of the civilian militia - not the National Guard, not a Civilian Reserve Corps (to serve overseas) - but a true citizen's militia to defend this country - WITHIN this country.

I just recently finished reading the book "Terror at Beslan" - which I highly - highly recommend for anybody who wants to see what kind of terrorism we might be facing here in this country. The author of the Beslan book makes the point that conventional government military and police forces can never be at every place at every time - and that the best defense against terrorist attacks agains schools may well be the people within the school and the community themselves.

The situation is somewhat similar to the situation faced by settlers on our frontiers who were subjected to Indian attacks on their settlements - the only defense they really had in the end were themselves - holing themselves up in their homes and waiting for the government troops was not going to save them. Similarly a terrorist attack against a school or shopping mall here in this country is best defended against right at the beginning of the attack by the people who are there on the scene - the citizens.

This fact is borne out by the experience of the Israelis and also I believe in Thailand - in both cases schools were getting attacked by terrorists - so they armed the teachers and gave them training - and this stopped the attacks. In Israel the result of this was an increase in suicide bombings because the attacks on schools were no longer successful - but this does not change the fact that arming teachers was a successful counter-strategy to the school attacks.

The side benefit to all of this would be that it would get awfully hard to argue for gun control if the citizen militia had to be armed to defend against terrorism attacks here on US soil.

 

[matt1956]

What are your thoughts on this statement from last nights state of the union address?

"A second task we can take on together is to design and establish a volunteer Civilian Reserve Corps. Such a corps would function much like our military reserve. It would ease the burden on the Armed Forces by allowing us to hire civilians with critical skills to serve on missions abroad when America needs them. And it would give people across America who do not wear the uniform a chance to serve in the defining struggle of our time."

What the heck does this mean? Private mercenaries in Iraq?

I'll watch the clip in a bit, it sounds intersesting.

**sniff, sniff**

Sure smells like mercenaries to me.

 

[Bolt308]

**sniff, sniff**

Sure smells like mercenaries to me.

Are you sure that's mercenaries you smell ?

 

[LORD of WAR]

i think groups like blackwater are the best thing since sliced bread...they go over there and are allowed to operate by their own rules...not the geneva convention...they can do the dirty work our guys cant...they fight by the same rules the guys in masks and bathrobes do...guerilla warfare...we need more groups like this to do the bidding that our soldiers arent "allowed" to do

 

[vellnueve]

Mercenaries have been a part of every major US conflict in the last 50 years IIRC.

 

[ManBearPig]

It's worth getting with detailed analysis. A part of the money you spend goes towards charity (it's mentioned at the end after the credits) and it's about 1:30 hours long.

 

[P2A]

i think groups like blackwater are the best thing since sliced bread...they go over there and are allowed to operate by their own rules...not the geneva convention...they can do the dirty work our guys cant...they fight by the same rules the guys in masks and bathrobes do...guerilla warfare...we need more groups like this to do the bidding that our soldiers arent "allowed" to do

Do you even know what your talking about?

That is complete and utter bullshit. I dont know where people get this notion that contractors are a bunch of cowboys laying hate and discontent in Babalyon. Nothing is further from the truth. No one is out doing dirty work, or playing by their own rules, there are very restrictive regulations put on contractors that are followed. This is a business, you dont follow the rules, you lose the contract. The contractor (Im speaking of government contractors specifically in Iraq) Come under a host of regulations. There is a much more restricted ROE for contractors. The Client dictates the ROE which is more restrictive than the DOD ROE in place. For DOD contractors IE: Aegis they fall under the DOD ROE and their own restrictions. Dept. of State contractors like Blackwater fall under the DOS ROE which is considerably more restrictive and enforced. Additionally the contractor is liable under the host nation laws. There is no SOFA protections for contractors. I know it looks cool on TV, but all it comes down to is protection of personnel and equipment. Nothing glamorous. No direct action etc. At the end of the day guys doing contracted security are all former military/ LE with impressive resumes that bring allot experience and talent to the table. They provide the client (being the government) with a great savings and a service that wouldnt be feasible to do on their own.

 

[Twigg]

Sounds more like a "Private" Goverment force, similar to the SS.