Posted on 03/29/2008 6:17:18 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Did you all read the comments on the Guardian? I almost registered there (I came to my senses though) to tell them that the vast majority of Americans don’t care, or even notice, what they think about us. We just defend them out of some reflexive sentimentality. If they keep whining like geriatric relatives, they’ll get our attention and we’ll just say fine, take care of yourself, see ya. What they want more than anything is to be listened to, and we just don’t oblige them. :)
I think for Europe, and maybe America, there might be a return to the “good old days”, before the 19th and 20th Century phenomenon of the gigantic “industrial armies”.
That is, for 1500 years, more or less, the Europeans relied on mercenary armies for most of the “small stuff”. The advantages are that mercenary armies are much cheaper, aren’t as stressful to a nation, and can be used for uncomfortable missions where you would rather not use your regular army.
The last major mercenary army, the French Foreign Legion, still exists and is a reasonably good model if such armies were to be built today. But even they are far more professional a force than is needed in most cases.
They need to be “offshore”, to keep them out of domestic politics, and you want them commanded by people loyal to your nation, not “free lancers” for sale to the highest bidder.
In the case of Europe, or just Britain, or even America, mercenaries would for the most part, not “fight our fights”, which is one of the big objections to their use, but instead we could use them for things such as “peacekeeping” in unpleasant places like Bosnia and Darfur, for things like drug interdictions against narco gangs, and for humanitarian missions.
It is not really a dramatic move, if you think about companies like Blackwater. They already perform much of what we would want a mercenary force to do: act as bodyguards and as a security service, and generally perform jobs that would be wasteful of our soldiers’ time.
They carry light weapons, move by ground vehicle and helicopter, and if they need more logistical support, the regular military can give it to them.
Importantly, were the US, Britain or Europe to set up such an army, it could be garrisoned in the Caribbean, away from the anti-military leftists who hate, fear and would either try to outlaw, or misuse them. If they didn’t want to do a revolting task commanded by a Moonbat, they could not be compelled to.
It could be full of non-citizens, the best foreign soldiers from around the world, and the US would have no problem lending control to NATO officers or even the UN, wearing their silly light blue berets. Something US soldiers dislike intensely.
If the George W. Bush had such a force, he might have sent it to Darfur or Somalia, or even to Bosnia to relieve some of our forces there. Our fighting men do not deserve to be put in such miserable places, with less than clear missions and surrounded by hostile people. But sometimes it is morally right to send *someone* to do so.
And mercenaries cost just a fraction of what one of our regular army units costs. So not only can we do what is right, we don’t have to waste our blood and treasure to do it.
Europe may no longer have the political will to create a standing industrial army, so they may have no other choice, though their bureaucrats would fiercely object, thinking themselves armchair generals happy to lead conscripts in their morning exercises. But once cruel reality intrudes into their fantasies, mercenaries are at least inexpensive.
The US, however, would keep its military as it is, just augmenting its abilities with mercenaries we could send to places we would prefer not to go ourselves.
As a final note, mercenaries also figure into economics, as corporations often need trained security personnel to protect themselves and their assets in unstable nations. This would keep these mercenaries employed in the “off season”.
Farewell former friends (though I doubt you will).
I sure wish we hadn't spent so much blood and fortune for your freedom!
I noticed that too, and was outraged.
If you haven't ever read the blog, "Gates of Vienna", I would refer you to that to see that a civil war is brewing in Europe and is likely less than five years off.
What will be the US response to that, especially when it includes the deportment of Muslims, and street fighting between Muslims and the native Europeans who will be protrayed as neo-Nazis in our MSM ?
What are they talking about? There’s 54 million muslim residents of Europe. That’s one hell of an Army.
Of course we could. However, then we would lose the legal cover for being the 300lb military gorilla that dominates the world with the other NATO members whose military we control under NATO, being our allies but really client states that do our bidding.
Just like the Warsaw Pact during the cold war that had many nations as members but only the most naive didn't realize that it was the Soviet Union that was the top dog and the others were client states and did its bidding.
You dont turn your back on your grandparents- even when they grow old and senile.
Does America Need A Foreign Legion?
http://www.useless-knowledge.com/1234/new/article056.html
America, always the innovator, would probably want a complex arrangement.
That is, a Blackwater type corporate organization, for their type missions; and a uniformed Foreign Legion, that could either be directed by the US or put under the operational control of friendly foreign forces, such as NATO or the UN.
But then a third group that would be an entirely humanitarian aid and relief mission—organized with foreigners but with logistics and operational direction from the US. This would be to insure that aid and relief went *only* to those it was supposed to go to, and not be squandered or stolen by corrupt local officials, a major problem today.
A little known fact is that for decades now, there has been no, zero, situation of extended famine *in the world* that *wasn’t* caused by a local government trying to starve a hated minority. Every single case is caused by a hateful local government. And this is why we need a “backed by arms” humanitarian mission.
But one that doesn’t cost as frightfully much as using conventional US military forces.
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