Article

2011-06-01 Afghanistan

Third Country Nationals (TCN), The Invisible Army - By Sarah Stillman of The New Yorker

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Posted by Besoeker 2011-06-01 04:22|| || Front Page|| [1 views ] Top

#1 Around the middle of the 19th Century, the Army was relieved of its mission to care and watch over the Native population. It had a spotty record of performance and was an ugly step child in the mind of the War Department. That function was moved to the newly minted Bureau of Indian Affairs which became a pit of patronage and corruption. It's not like we've learned the consequences of 'contracting' out support functions and made provisions to insure stuff like that doesn't happen again. Then again 'history' is only stuff people remember from when they were born.

Posted by Procopius2k 2011-06-01 11:11|| 2011-06-01 11:11|| Front Page Top

#2 Then again 'history' is only stuff people remember from when they were born. Most people don't know the names of their grandparents. A great many people don't care whether their grandparents were even human.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-06-01 11:17|| 2011-06-01 11:17|| Front Page Top

#3 Key point: For the first time in American history, private-contractor losses are now on a par with those of U.S. troops in both war zones.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-06-01 11:19|| 2011-06-01 11:19|| Front Page Top

#4 This is a muck-raking version of old news.

This arrangement is no different than what was done in WWII when we had to build airbases and port facilities in "the colonies" (third world). Nobody talks about the conditions in the coolie work gangs or even the Italian day laborers in Italy. One of my friends was in charge of several thousand Phillipene workers in Mainila during the Vietnam War. Conditions today are better for these laborers than they were in any war in US history.

Posted by Frozen Al 2011-06-01 11:38|| 2011-06-01 11:38|| Front Page Top

#5 The Third World contractors are getting paid a very high comparative salary in a hard currency and they love it. As for the contractor deaths, clearly the writer has never studied history, where she would learn that the camp followers for every army were always hard hit by disease, hungry, and exposure. When the Left complains about the loss of 'contractors', what they are really bemoaning is the low casualty rate among the US military in the wars we are currently fighting.

Posted by Shieldwolf 2011-06-01 15:31|| 2011-06-01 15:31|| Front Page Top

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