[Jeremy]

Over the last two weeks it's been almost impossible to turn on TV or the internet with out seeing/hearing something about the private contractors in Iraq, Blackwater mostly.

What are your opinions on the use of private companys and the way they handle them selves?

 

[brucelee]

Here's my take on the whole situation...

The private contractors are hired for a reason, they are armed and trained and protect diplomats, etc... They have the authorization to use force against an imminent threat. The fire fight that was caused by some contractors which resulted in the death of innocent civilians does not reflect on ALL of blackwater and other agencies! Who knows what happened duing that firefight... The civis were probably seen as a threat in some shape or form, so what were the contractors to do? Sit there and wait to get shot? Hell no... If I was there and felt threatened I'd eliminate the thread immediately regardless if it meant Iwas going to get booted from Iraq.

Lets say for the sake of argument that these contractors acted in error and shot the civilians for no reason really... It endangered the lives of our troops, and the civilians. Should blackwater and other agencies be kicked out of Iraq for the duty commited by a few contractors? I sure as hell don't think so... I think THOSE contractors should get the boot.

What about our military? You know how many times our guys have f'ed up and killed kids and such by accident? When you're in a warzone you're paranoid to the max... It's either kill or be killed... Sometimes innocent people get into the mix, It's just part of war sadly. You don't see all our troops getting kicked out of Iraq for all their wrong doings.

 

[Pre-diddy]

I've been thinking that I wouldn't mind working for one actually. Not as an operative (or whatever they are called), mind you, I don't have much desire to drive someone around that other people are hell bent on killing. But I think working on the corporate side of things could be a decent job, but still a bit more interesting than the average office desk job. I've been trying to find some information on them, unfortunately as you might expect its tough to get a lot of details on how the industry operates.

 

[The Ghoul]

Heh. I think I have a theory-
When someone employs you to guard a convoy, they aren't paying you to shoot non-combatants. That's wasting their time and money. They'd have every right to fire you just as a grocery store would if you weren't working when you were on the clock.

BUT-when you are on your own time, you do what you please.


Also, there are two different types of contractors-
PMC-private military. Blackwater. They are all ex-SF, highly trained. Runs military like operations.
CC-Civilian contractors. No service time, also trained well. Usually gets stuck with dignatary duty/exec. protec.