There's little question that companies like Blackwater could be more effective operationally than the African Union, which has been hampered by its peacekeepers' lack of command and control experience. Private military companies boast a roster of former special forces officers and law enforcement officers who are accustomed to volatile conflict and post-conflict areas like Sudan.
Blackwater also subjects all of its personnel to an impressive array of extra training-whether they're training to work in Baghdad or the firm's North Carolina headquarters. They take classes in international humanitarian law, leadership, ethics, regional awareness, and ''customs and traditions." They've recently approached Amnesty International about teaching human rights education classes. And the International Peace Operations Association boasts that its code of conduct was written by human rights lawyers.
The industry also claims that it's far cheaper than its multilateral or military counterparts. ''We offer the ability to create a right-sized solution-which creates a cost savings right off the bat," says Taylor. By contrast, Brooks notes, ''NATO is insanely expensive; it's not a cost-effective organization. Neither is the [African Union]. Private companies would be much, much cheaper. When we compared their costs to most UN operations, we came up with 10 to 20 percent of what the UN would normally charge."
I can hear the argumends against this post right now (i.e. PMC are bad, they are answerable to no one, etc) but you should keep in mind doing nothing is worse. Remember, the standard is not perfection - the standard is the alternative.
I thought I would never say, this but there is a worse software company than Microsoft - and that company is Symantec. Ever since Norton 2000, each version of AV has gotten more bloated and unmanageable. They're software is so bad that not only do they have an uninstaller, but they also have a "Norton Removal Tool" because their uninstaller inevidably fails half the time. Seriously, google "Norton removal tool". Not only that, but when you do get the uninstaller to work, it takes around 10minutes to remove the application. I can delete every file on my hard drive in less time.
But only one discussed sacking those responsible for the "victory".
They both claimed victory. They both claim they sacked the other side. Where's your source anyway?
While Israel spent over $9 billion on defense last year, and also receives aid from the U.S. On paper, it isn't supposed to be a contest. Based on Israel's boasting before the war, it wasn't supposed to be a contest. They've faced the full-fledged national armies of recognized modern states. This is a "rogue terrorist group" that despite its role in politics and de-facto rulership of the south, is not part of the Lebanese military.
Again, cite your sources. The point I made was that Hezbollah is certainly not a "Ragtag militia" as the parent suggested. "Ragtag militias" don't get an annual funding of $100M.
Yes, they have anti-tank missles (the majority being RPG-29s, not wire-guided) and just enough anti-ship weapons to keep Israel on their toes.
Wow, that's even more than I thought! I had last heard it was less than 20. You do realize that is a lot of tanks, don't you? That's 50 MBTs in 38 days. That's more than twice what the U.S. has lost in three years of fighting. For a tank that's touted as having even more survivability than most other MBTs, that is a truly sad showing.
That's more than 1% of their entire tank force, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of equipment, in just over a month in combat vs an enemy that can field neither armor nor air power. You're distrubingly disconnected from reality if you think "only" losing 50 tanks is anything but a disaster for Israel.
Again, where are your souces?
30km is pathetic when you're chasing after a guerilla force, who routinely retreat and give up villages and then come around to re-take the village you just left. That just means the farthest they drove into Lebanon was 30k, not that this actually represented military gain. Your second statement makes it look like you think Hezbollah actually wanted to invade Israel, which is retarded. Hezbollah didn't want to invade Israel, they wanted Israel to invade Lebanon so they could fight the IDF in their home turf where all their tunnels, pill boxes, and kill zones were prepared.
Do I even have to ask for sources again? The point is Hezbollah lost ground. Period. If Israel was doing badly and lost ground, you can bet Hezbollah would have taken that ground from them. If Hezbollah's master plan was to let themselves be invaded by Israel (which Nasrallah didn't expect would happen) then you would have to admit it was a pretty stupid plan.
Those 30km were Hezbollah's killing grounds, and as long as the IDF was stuck there they were in fact at a standstill.
Sources? The IDF was not fought to a standstill - they could have completely rolled over Lebanon. Yet it is true to say the politicians (especially Olmert) were fought to a standstill and forced the IDF to stop as a result. Weak politicians != weak military.
Your conflation of "is present in" with "controls" is rather amusing. Funny that the article you cite doesn't make it sound like Israel "controls" the land...
Almost as funny as you citing absolutely nothing at all!
...usually, if one of your helicoptors crashes in land you control, you're able to send rescuers to get the crew. I guess the problem was that Hezbollah didn't agree that IDF controlled it!
Um... Notice how very few Israelis are actually disagreeing with that assesment? Victory isn't making piles of rubble. If you look at the larger picture, this was a victory for Hezbollah without a doubt.
Sure, Israel destroyed a lot of infrastructure with a little "shock and awe" air power. Doesn't really do much other than harm the citizenry and piss them off. In the end, Israel couldn't do what mattered, and that's occupy the land that was and still is controlled by Hezbollah.
At the strategic level, this was a stunning victory for Hezbollah and all the nations/groups that oppose Israel. It would be very foolish to view it otherwise.
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I can hear the argumends against this post right now (i.e. PMC are bad, they are answerable to no one, etc) but you should keep in mind doing nothing is worse. Remember, the standard is not perfection - the standard is the alternative.
I thought I would never say, this but there is a worse software company than Microsoft - and that company is Symantec. Ever since Norton 2000, each version of AV has gotten more bloated and unmanageable. They're software is so bad that not only do they have an uninstaller, but they also have a "Norton Removal Tool" because their uninstaller inevidably fails half the time. Seriously, google "Norton removal tool". Not only that, but when you do get the uninstaller to work, it takes around 10minutes to remove the application. I can delete every file on my hard drive in less time.
California already taxes about 50 cents a gallon (the third highest) . Shouldn't they already be funding alternative transportation with that money?
The 2007 Federal budget allocates about 20% of its funds for defense spending not 64%.
They both claimed victory. They both claim they sacked the other side. Where's your source anyway?
Again, cite your sources. The point I made was that Hezbollah is certainly not a "Ragtag militia" as the parent suggested.
"Ragtag militias" don't get an annual funding of $100M.
They did indeed have wire-guided missles. Where is your source that proves otherwise?
Again, where are your souces?
Do I even have to ask for sources again? The point is Hezbollah lost ground. Period. If Israel was doing badly and lost ground, you can bet Hezbollah would have taken that ground from them. If Hezbollah's master plan was to let themselves be invaded by Israel (which Nasrallah didn't expect would happen) then you would have to admit it was a pretty stupid plan.
Sources? The IDF was not fought to a standstill - they could have completely rolled over Lebanon. Yet it is true to say the politicians (especially Olmert) were fought to a standstill and forced the IDF to stop as a result. Weak politicians != weak military.
Almost as funny as you citing absolutely nothing at all!
Ragtag militia gets 100 Million dollars a year from Iran
Ragtag militia has advanced wire-guided anti-tank missles
Ragtag militia has advanced anti-ship missles
Ragtag militia holds 11% of the seats in parliament
Ragtag militia's political bloc holds 27.5% of seats in parliment
Hezbollah destroyed or damaged up to 50 tanks. Israel has 3600
While fighting to a standstill, Israel was able to occupy ground up to 30km into Lebanon.
While fighting to a standstill, Hezbollah was able to occupy ground up to -30km into Israel.
Israel controls the land held by Hezbollah until an International force relieves them.
Hezbollah didn't expect a war at all
Israel currently occupies the land controled by Hezbollah.
ROFL