Web Letters | The Nation

Private contractors

I have been highly annoyed with private contractors since the armed forces logistics chain was privatized in Iraq and Afghanistan. Outside of local people, who can't help it, untrained civilian were getting killed on the battlefield doing support jobs that require trained military personnel. My annoyance increased when civilian hired guns were brought to perform military missions.

However, what kind of an idiot would turn intelligence operations, which requires considerable training and experience, over to private contractors? God knows how many security breaches have occurred, and how many operations have been damaged by this idiocy.

The cost of government and the various wars have ballooned, paying incompetent private companies to do government jobs. You could have had the draft after 9/11, and the American public would not have batted an eye. Instead, hired guns were brought in, which drove the cost of these wars through the roof.

I have been around for a long time, but I have never seen such a lack of competence in government.