At least someone with some sense is stating the obvious. Of course this decree is a threat to the mission and strategy in Afghanistan, and it is also a threat to President Obama’s plan and future election. He, along with his party in the US depend upon a strategy in Afghanistan that will help them politically in the near future. The economy and war will be front and center for election season, and progress must be shown in Afghanistan for there to be any political capital to be won. That could be why you don’t hear too much about this issue in the media.
Another thing that is interesting politically, is right now PSC’s or PMC’s are a hot potato issue. Republicans don’t want to come to the aid of this industry either, just because the Democrats would bash them for it. I do not see support from any independent groups either, and probably for the same reason. Which is all pretty typical for this industry, but in reality, we have been vital for both Republicans and Democrats over the years.
The way I see it right now, politically we are very important to whomever is in office. Our deaths in war do not mean the same as when troops die. Our usage allows politicians the ability to increase a security presence very quickly both at home or overseas, and without a draft or congressional mandate. All we require is financing, and you have an instant army for whatever you need done.
We are the ones that will be protecting the diplomatic mission in Iraq and filling any of the security gaps that cannot be filled by the congressionally mandated troop presence there now. We are also important in Afghanistan, because yet again, we fill a security need that would otherwise be filled by troops that are already tasked with important combat missions. There are close to a quarter million contractors of all types in this war, with 1700 thousand plus contractors that have been killed, and yet we are all marginalized as if we don’t matter? The fact is, we do matter. But hey, that will be our own little secret I guess. lol –Matt
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Michael J. Thibault
Majority Co-Chair, Appointed by Senate Majority Leader Reid and Speaker of the House Pelosi
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Michael Thibault, the co-chair of the congressionally appointed Wartime Contracting Commission, which was brought together for the sole purpose of looking at how the U.S. can better manage its contracted workforce, sees a disconnect between what the Afghan government wants and what the U.S. government needs.
“If President Karzai sticks with this timeline, the U.S. mission and objectives will suffer,” Thibault says. “The U.S. military would have to take over those roles, and the mission we have laid out never allowed for this.”
Link to Quote here.
