Collateral Murder

[dust1n]

yes but whats your excuse? what i see here is an insensitivity from some who are not directly involved concerning the killing of Americans.

Sorry, I am as sensitive to Afghani or Iraqi death as I am an American death.

 

[JMorris]

Well, it may not be "ok" to kill innocent people, I hardly call the Blackwater folks "Innocent". The media doesn't like to call them what they really are, Mercenaries, so instead we are told they are just 'contractors'. As if they were doing construction work or something. HA!

agreed. i have absolutely no sympathy for mercenaries.

 

[kai]

agreed. i have absolutely no sympathy for mercenaries.

so American private military contractors doing a lawful job of conducting security for deliveries for food caterers deserved all they got there then?

 

[JMorris]

so American private military contractors doing a lawful job of conducting security for deliveries for food caterers deserved all they got there then?

i have no sympathy for mercenaries.

 

[kai]

i have no sympathy for mercenaries.

not going to answer the question?

 

[JMorris]

not going to answer the question?

i just did

 

[kai]

i just did

one of those blackened dismembered corpses hanging from a bridge was Stephen "Scott" Helvenston.


his mother watched it on TV, she didnt know it was her son till Blackwater phoned her the next day.






But so what? he was a mercenary right?

 

[JMorris]

one of those blackened dismembered corpses hanging from a bridge was Stephen "Scott" Helvenston.


his mother watched it on TV, she didnt know it was her son till Blackwater phoned her the next day.






But so what? he was a mercenary right?

right. i think of mercenaries about as highly as i think of terrorists. i dont shed tears over either.

 

[kai]

right. i think of mercenaries about as highly as i think of terrorists. i dont shed tears over either.

how about if one were killed protecting government facilities in the US? or counter narcotics? or lets say helping ( under contract to the US government and licenced by the US department of state) to train government soldiers and police in Afghanistan? which brings me to the question is a private company providing security on contract for their own government really mercenaries? are they only mercenaries when they are employed in Iraq but not in the USA?

 

[dust1n]

how about if one were killed protecting government facilities in the US? or counter narcotics? or lets say helping ( under contract to the US government and licenced by the US department of state) to train government soldiers and police in Afghanistan? which brings me to the question is a private company providing security on contract for their own government really mercenaries? are they only mercenaries when they are employed in Iraq but not in the USA?

Not saying that I don't necessarily feel bad for the guy; he was just making a paycheck like everyone else in the world; but he was a mercenary. Whether he was in Iraq, the USA, Australia, Somalia, or Canada; he's a private solider.

 

[kai]

Not saying that I don't necessarily feel bad for the guy; he was just making a paycheck like everyone else in the world; but he was a mercenary. Whether he was in Iraq, the USA, Australia, Somalia, or Canada; he's a private solider.

therefore?

 

[Valjean]

Why is a mercenary any different from a regular soldier? They're doing the same things. They have the same jobs.
Does an Iraqi care weather his family was killed by a mercenary or a marine?
Weather for God, country or manna, by their fruits shall ye know them.

 

[JMorris]

how about if one were killed protecting government facilities in the US? or counter narcotics? or lets say helping ( under contract to the US government and licenced by the US department of state) to train government soldiers and police in Afghanistan? which brings me to the question is a private company providing security on contract for their own government really mercenaries? are they only mercenaries when they are employed in Iraq but not in the USA?

a mercenary is anyone employed by a pmc, and regardless of what they were hired to do at the time of their death, i have no sympathy for them.

 

[dust1n]

therefore?

There, as a solider, he understands that there is a possibly of death; he has accepted the danger, but does it for whatever reason. Civilians have not. They are not proliferating violence... they are just existing and getting bombed. Who do you expect to feel more sensitive to? I'm not concerned about the deaths of soldiers on either side as I am the civilians who inhabit the place which is getting bombed. The soldiers choose to fight one another - civilians are just in the way bullets and bombs.

 

[kai]

There, as a solider, he understands that there is a possibly of death; he has accepted the danger, but does it for whatever reason. Civilians have not. They are not proliferating violence... they are just existing and getting bombed. Who do you expect to feel more sensitive to? I'm not concerned about the deaths of soldiers on either side as I am the civilians who inhabit the place which is getting bombed. The soldiers choose to fight one another - civilians are just in the way bullets and bombs.

yes i see, but what's the difference in an enlisted soldier and a private soldier contracted and licenced by his own government? I am asking because you said:

Originally Posted by dust1n
Not saying that I don't necessarily feel bad for the guy; he was just making a paycheck like everyone else in the world; but he was a mercenary. Whether he was in Iraq, the USA, Australia, Somalia, or Canada; he's a private solider.

 

[kai]

Why is a mercenary any different from a regular soldier? They're doing the same things. They have the same jobs.
Does an Iraqi care weather his family was killed by a mercenary or a marine?
Weather for God, country or manna, by their fruits shall ye know them.

very true i am sure the Iraqis don't wished to killed by anyone, Marine , Private soldier or a women strapped up with dynamite, but do we consider the life of such a private soldier any less than a "regular" one.

 

[kai]

a mercenary is anyone employed by a pmc, and regardless of what they were hired to do at the time of their death, i have no sympathy for them.

well my point is they are employed ultimately by the same government as the regular soldier all legal and above board.Employed in the most part so regular troops do not have to take on that particular workload. forgive me but i am trying to get the difference here pinned down? is an armed security guard less worthy of your sympathy than a cop?

 

[JMorris]

well my point is they are employed ultimately by the same government as the regular soldier all legal and above board.Employed in the most part so regular troops do not have to take on that particular workload. forgive me but i am trying to get the difference here pinned down? is an armed security guard less worthy of your sympathy than a cop?

an armed mercenary is not a cop

 

[dust1n]

yes i see, but what's the difference in an enlisted soldier and a private soldier contracted and licenced by his own government? I am asking because you said:

Can an enlisted solider generally has some ideological foundation for joining the military, if not straight up for money. What is the motivation for working for a private company? It's not transparent, it's not democratically accountable, and someone is profiting off the contract. What's the number one rule about profit? Always increase it. How does that inevitably lead up to some seriously bad news? Is this not what Eisenhower was warning us about?

 

[kai]

an armed mercenary is not a cop

neither is a security guard, what is a Mercenary in your view?