"We are coming": Mattis' resignation could revive plan to privatise Afghan war - Polidicks

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/12/21/mattis-is-out-and-blackwater-is-back-we-are-coming/ Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis is out. Mattis' resignation comes amid news that President Donald Trump has directed the drawdown of 2,000 U.S. forces in Syria, and 7,000 U.S. forces from Afghanistan, a U.S. official confirmed to Military Times, a story first reported by the Wall Street Journal. This month, in the January/February print issue of the gun and hunting magazine “Recoil," the former contractor security firm Blackwater USA published a full-page ad, in all black with a simple message: “We are coming.” Is the war in Afghanistan — and possibly elsewhere ― about to be privatized? If Blackwater returns, it would be the return of a private security contractor that was banned from Iraq, but re-branded and never really went away. By 2016 Blackwater had been re- branded several times and was known at the time as Constellis Group, when it was purchased by the Apollo Holdings Group. Reuters reported earlier this year that Apollo had put Constellis up for sale, but in June the sale was put on hold. Blackwater’s founder and former CEO Erik Prince has courted President Donald Trump’s administration since he took office with the idea that the now 17-year Afghan War will never be won by a traditional military campaign. Prince has no connection to the current Constellis group; if Blackwater does return to operations, it is not clear what, if any tie, Prince would have to the endeavor. Constellis, which had maintained a footprint at Camp Integrity by the Kabul Airport through its previous iteration as “Academi” has leased land at the facility to hold another 800 personnel, Military Times learned. In an previous exclusive interview with Military Times, Prince said he would scrap the NATO mission there and replace the estimated 23,000 forces in country with a force of 6,000 contracted personnel and 2,000 active-duty special forces. The potential privatization of the Afghan War was previously dismissed by the White House, and roundly criticized by Mattis, who saw it as a risk to emplace the nation’s national security goals in the hands of contractors.

Paraphrasing a post in another thread, "Can we please not make Metal Gear Solid 4 as prophetic as 2?"

we're already way past that, people need to know bout Triple Canopy

Yeah no sympathy for any mercs that get iced out there. Maybe they will get to curse Prince and Trump with their dying breaths. I love that the rubes rail on about the MIC as a reason to pull out but then literally enhance it in the same move.

So who's going to play the role of Snake? Mueller?

That image is ominous as fuck.

Almost two decades of attempting to maintain some assemblage of peace and order in Afghanistan only to throw up our hands saying, "Fuck this, send in the PMCs! Surely they'll maintain order"

Send in the PMCs, wait for them for continue fucking the area up, another terrorist group pops up that hates the West. They do some bad shit, send the army back in.

Yeah just send in PMC and let them profit off of prolonged war. Totally in the persuit of piece.

it undoubtedly comes from the same pathetically megalomaniacal state of mind as Steve "Darkness is Good" Bannon & Co. the only scary part of it is that the Emperor Palpatine fantasies of these particular teeny-peckered old beltway fucks will have a body-count attached, and that's more sad than anything.

What Most PMCs aren't mustache twirling villains deserving of death

So, Erik Prince for new Secretary of Defense?

Let the torture begin!

Its disgusting, its like everyone knows what black water is all about and they're just taking advantage of it.

They may not be "villains" in the traditional sense, but they're certainly not a force of good. The term "PMC" is just a friendlier, less controversial way of saying "mercenaries" without raising eyebrows. They don't care about the people of Afghanistan, they care about the hefty amounts of money they'll get for their services. If we start sending these guys over there then we can expect more instances of civilians dying due to "mysterious" circumstances.

A Blackwater merc just got convicted for a 2007 murder in Iraq. https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/wireStory/blackwater-contractor-found-guilty-2007-iraq-shooting-59914230

Why would we you a private company to go declare war on another country on behalf of yourself? Like ???? The fuck are we even doing any more?

Forever war but for money

They actually renamed themselves back to Blackwater? They had to ditch that shit to disassociate from the shit they did, now they're proud of who they are again? Seesh this administration really is enabling the crazies

War has changed.

Why would a merceneray company thing advertise to the general public?

with the democrats writing the budget fat chance he can privatize afghanistan on their watch.

Blackwater's logo makes it look like a furry airsoft group.

From the late middle ages to the rise of nationalism in the 1800s, that was the foremost purpose of mercenaries- nobody could afford to keep a standing army, so they hired mercenaries to do the fighting for them. We may be coming full-circle, as developed nations find mercenaries to be an attractive way to avoid the financial and political baggage of foreign occupation.

Carl Pilkington why

What are we supposed to believe they can do if the US Army wasn't enough. They'll be going in to do some shady shit and then leave everything as broken as it was.

For those unfamiliar with Blackwater, they're a notorious PMC that's been a factor to the extension of our time in Iraq along with other heinous acts. That TL;DR doesn't convey the gravity of how fucking evil they are.

Oh my God. FUCK OFF. Mercenary companies are probably one of the biggest blackholes when it comes to financing in the Pentagon, I would bet both my testicles that a large portion of that missing money is some fucking merc company who doesn't even do their fucking jobs. Mercenaries do not work, its been shown repeatedly that if you want something done you need national diplomacy and military might. Mercnearies do not provide any might, they fuck off as soon as shit gets to dangerous as Blackwater has done repeatedly.

I get the feeling peace in Afghanistan will not be likely if you send in something that makes money from conflict.

Man, I remember listening to the Dollop Podcast about Erik Prince and Blackwater and god damn that was revolting stuff. I can only imagine these guys double up on their awful behaviors.