President Trump’s top advisers are considering hiring mercenaries to replace US Troops in Afghanistan. Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater Security (who is also the brother of Trump’s Education Secretary Betsy DeVos), Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner are promoting the idea that mercenaries can succeed where our armed forces have not, by imposing a stable government in that nation. Blackwater is the same contractor that caused so many problems in Iraq.
How did we get to this point?
After 9-11, President Bush and many Americans seemed intent on “Doing something, even if it’s wrong.” Secretary of State Colin Powell warned “If you break it, you own it.” meaning that if we deposed Saddam Hussein, we Americans would be responsible for assuring the security of the Iraqi people until a stable, democratic government could be established.
Based on the mistaken notion that Iraq threatened us and our allies with weapons of mass destruction, we became the occupying power that deposed Saddam Hussein and destroyed the authority of Iraqi institutions; but we did not successfully replace them. The US proved that we could remove a Middle East dictator quickly and efficiently. That seemed to inspire rebellion and revolution against repressive governments across the region. But rather than freedom and democratic government, the result was a power vacuum where competing ideologies and religious sects fought to impose their will on the rest of the population.
Arguably, the principal glue that held Iraq together was the rigid and sometimes cruel control imposed by the dictator that we had deposed. The nation fell into anarchy and chaos, an ideal environment for extremists to spawn ISIS and other terrorist groups. A multitude of Iraqi religious and political groups fought for power. No one succeeded in uniting the people.
Inspired at least in part by events in Iraq, a spirit of revolution spread. The governments of Libya and Egypt fell. Syria is in a protracted civil war with Russia propping up the dictator while the US insists that he give up power. It seems unlikely that either of those outcomes would result in a free and stable nation.
Revolutions across the Middle East and North Africa have produced a horrendous refugee crisis. Individuals and families have fled nations where they fear becoming victims of violence, starvation, abuse and disease. Anarchy – the collapse of government – has allowed the most despicable aspects of human nature and behavior to thrive. Children have been taught to decapitate others for practicing a different version of religion while other innocents are sold as sex slaves.
The refugee crisis spread to Turkey, then across the sea to Cyprus, Greece and into Europe. That has created instability in the European Union. Some nations, led by Germany, have welcomed refugees and tried to create opportunities for them. Hungary, Poland and others strongly disagree and want to reject refugees. The UK’s decision to secede from the EU was motivated in part by a desire for a strong national border and control over who crossed it. Back in the US, Americans elected a President who campaigned on the promise to ban Muslim immigration. Just as in Europe, Americans are bitterly divided about whether to admit refugees from the greatest human tragedy of our lifetimes. Without our invasion of Iraq, would any of it have happened?
As citizens of a free and democratic nation, we Americans are individually and collectively responsible for the actions of our government. “If you break it, you own it” should have clear and personal meaning for each of us. The cascade of events across the Middle East and North Africa and the direct line to today’s conditions should have taught us how actions intended as controlled and limited wars can spiral out of control. We can’t change the past, and it’s hard to see how more “help” from us will be well received.
We now have a President who seems fond of saber-rattling and doesn’t like constraints (including the prohibition of torture) so he is considering turning the American military role in Afghanistan over to private contractors (mercenary corporations). Americans would pay the bills while corporations and foreign governments set the rules of engagement as they see fit – unleashed from the Geneva Convention and other moral standards that govern American armed forces.
If President Trump hires mercenaries, we Americans will be individually and collectively responsible for the actions of our hired guns. There are two adages to remember. “If we break it we will own it.” and “Forewarned is forearmed.”
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND READING:
NY Times report of trump Administration considering mercenaries for Afghanistan