Comments on: More Totten, more “getting to know you” in Iraq

By: Laura

Laura — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 19:50:32 +0000

OmegaPaladin

Here are a few links:

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=N2E0MWNhMjMxZjVhM2JmMjA0Yzg0ODNmNzVjMTk5ZDc=

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iHe3RGdxzFVjqN54O2181uAuXjmw

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-na-gates27sep27,1,201139.story?coll=la-headlines-business&track=crosspromo

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/27/opinion/main3305332.shtml

In terms of your last question, not sure what you mean.

By: OmegaPaladin

OmegaPaladin — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 17:37:24 +0000

Laura,

Where have you heard that? I read lots of milbloggers (Blackfive, OPFOR,, Badgers Forward, Acute Politics, etc) as well as war correspondents (Roggio, Totten, Yon, Ardolino, etc) and I have never heard the PMCs get slammed. Well, there were a few comments about Peruvian guards who couldn’t speak English or Arabic, but nothing about cowboy PMCs.

I’ve heard mixed reports about Iraqi security forces like the National Police and some units of the Iraqi Army, but not about PMCs. Are you trying to start something here?

By: Laura

Laura — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 21:13:46 +0000

One thing that begs asking in my opinion is, given the military spends so much time and energy, not to mention life, supporting and helping this young (embryonic) democracy to emerge, how are the actions of private military firms in Iraq hurting in that effort?

I would like to ask that of Totten, or for him to ask that of Silverman. Many commanders in Iraq have been harshly critical of lost ground because of firms like Blackwater operating like cowboys. That surely can’t help the people to feel very confident. I have read in several places that the people are quite afraid of them.

By: Tatterdemalian

Tatterdemalian — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 15:43:48 +0000

As long as humanity remains mortal, the ultimate method of exerting political, economic, or cultural power over other people will always be killing them. If even a single individual were to develop a means to kill as many people as he wants, without ever having to risk being killed himself, that person would be king of as large an area as he could strip of life.

The terrorists are not immortal, but our own rules of engagement, developed from the fantasies of modern aristocrats rather than the realities on the ground, afford them both a greater power to kill and a protection from being killed than our own troops enjoy.

By: Peter Boston

Peter Boston — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 12:37:45 +0000

What I got from Totten’s article is the ability of a small, well organized group to use demonic violence to control a large population. That this dynamic can occur while most of the civilian population are armed makes this phenomenon even more interesting.

By: sergey

sergey — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 09:57:56 +0000

This underlying dynamic is also reflected in Talmudic sayings: What is the reward for a mitzva? Another mitzva. What is the punishment for a sin? Another sin. There is no sin without insanity behind it.

By: sergey

sergey — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 09:43:36 +0000

The behaviour and psychology of political or religious fanatics very close resembles those of ordinary psychopaths, and inevitably results in cutting of ties with reality and pissing off everybody around. There is a vicious circle: the more hostile to their surroundings they became, the more reasons they have to became even more nasty. Nazis followed this path to the end. It is impossible to be both evil and adequate, and inexorable progression of inadequacy leads to utmost failure. Greeks called it Nemesis.

By: njcommuter

njcommuter — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 01:21:19 +0000

Nothing is inevitable. Not the defeat of al Qaeda. Not victory by al Qaeda. Not even a World Series win by the Red Sox (grin).

The future has to be shaped, and our elected (harrrumph) representatives will play a large part in shaping it.

It falls to us to be informed, to analyze the world as we see it, not as we imagine it, and to make our considered beliefs known.

By: Ymarsakar

Ymarsakar — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:55:38 +0000

So r4 thinks Iran wanted Blackwater out or their ROE changed, is that it?

By: r4d20

r4d20 — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 21:45:33 +0000

and all they are doing to thwart the success of Iraq’s government. Iran OWNS the current Iraqi government - undermining it is the last thing they want to do.