Tuesday, February 13, 2007

A Powerful Word

The latest word to catch-on in the Iraq discussion is "mercenary."

Suggesting that the United States is sponsoring mercenaries to do its fighting in Iraq is akin to treason in some folks minds.

This writer has no problem with the proud Americans who are following their consciences into a patriotic endeavor in support of the red, white and blue.

But there is another force out there, made up of soldiers who are recruited in foreign lands to join the US Army, with the promises of all the benefits that America can offer - the kind of monetary wealth which is unavailable to them in their native land, plus the promise of higher education, other veteran's benefits, and going to the top of the list to gain US citizenship.

It is impossible for me to think of a foreign national as a patriotic American.

During World War I, many Americans rushed to Canada to join the Canadian Armed Forces in order to fight in Europe. During World War II, Americans went to England in order to fly with the RAF. These men were often fighting because they shared the ideals of the Canadians or English in their fight against Germany. Americans also fought on the Spanish Civil War against the Fascists. But you can't really call them Canadian patriots or British patriots or Spanish patriots.

In addition, as many as ten percent of the men and women who are fighting in Iraq are employed not by the US military, but by the private contractors who are being paid by the US government to provide security services in Iraq. Some of these soldiers of fortune are making as much as $1000 a day, tax free.

Are we wrong to call them mercenaries??

I really don't think so.

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