As I write this Hurricane Gustav is forecasted to head towards New Orleans, Louisiana and make landfall on Monday, September 1st as either a Category 4 or Category 5 storm. As someone who has been to New Orleans twice, most recently a few months ago, I hope somehow that they can escape the devastation of this storm. I am not wishing it upon anyway else but we will be praying for their safety this weekend and I hope that some of you will do the same as well.
The people of New Orleans have been through so much and they are still struggling to get back on their feet. I think the people will evacuate this time, but I only hope they will have a city to come back to.
If you have ever been to New Orleans please pray for the wonderful city that showed you such an incredible time. If you have never been please pray that you will someday have the opportunity to visit the most unique city in the United States.
The most dangerous threat to American Society today is not the state our economy or China or our national debt. It is the outsourcing of American jobs. No I am not talking about tech jobs or customer service jobs, this is much worse than trying to get technical assistance from someone in India. It is the private security firms such as Blackwater which have turned war into a very profitable business. Unlike American soldiers who must adhere to a strict code of conduct these firms seem to operate outside the law without any oversight by the United States government. If you have ever wondered why the Iraq War has dragged on for so long when Saddam Hussein was toppled over five years ago, the answer is simple; someone is making money. The owner of Blackwater has said that he would never take on contracts or work from foreign governments that are in conflict with American goals. Of course when you can drag out American wars and siphon money from the Unites States government there is no need to. The media is catching up to these firms although it has been a slow process. A recent article (click here for PDF) that I read in Men’s Journal provides a great feel for how these companies work.
Blackwater is the king of the private security firms and while their finances are not public knowledge due to their status as a private company they have received billions in contracts from the United States government to operate in Iraq and around the world. The firm was banned from Iraq last fall after a firefight in which they killed 17 Iraqi civilians. The FBI investigated the incident and found that 14 of the killings were unjustified. It was not the first time that Blackwater was involved in controversy but as the occurrences pile up they are starting to attract attention. Unfortunately the Blackwater mercenaries who committed these most recent atrocities have yet to answer for what they did as the government tries to figure out who has the power to bring them to justice and under what law.
When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans firms like Blackwater were on the ground within hours while FEMA was still stumbling around with bottles of water. They were brought in by wealthy individuals to guard their estates and even exchanged fire a few times with gang members. Personally I am not fond of the idea of a private army roaming the streets of my neighborhood in the event of a natural disaster, especially not the outcasts and foreign nationals that firms like Blackwater employ. If ever there was reason to be thankful for the 2nd Amendment it is because of these private security firms and the possibility of our constitutional rights being trampled by some hot head with an M-16 who couldn’t make it in the United State military. I would not want them showing up at my front door in a time of crisis.
Bills have been sponsored in the United States House of Representatives and Senate to end this dangerous practice. The name of the bill is the Stop Outsourcing Security Act. The bill number in the House is H.R. 4102 and in the Senate it is S.2398. I suggest you write your Representative or Senator and tell them that you expect them to support it. Some things should be about more than just the bottom line. We should be spending money to support our soldiers rather than giving it to lawless mercenaries with no regard for life or the constitution.
For those of you who are students of history you may remember that President Dwight Eisenhower warned the American public of the dangers of the military industrial complex in his farewell address. Eisenhower was the Supreme Allied Commander during World War II and the man responsible for leading the D Day Invasion. Yet even he knew the dangers of companies that profit from war. It is one thing to build tanks and fighter jets, it is entirely another to actually staff a private army. When the men in this army consist of foreign nationals and mercenaries with happy trigger fingers it is even more disturbing.
I leave you with the words of President Dwight Eisenhower. They are almost 50 years old, maybe its time we actually heeded his warnings?
