TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Our Decline And Fall?

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 23, 2007

I read that there are as many as 20,000 private contract soldiers in Iraq, all paid directly or indirectly by the U. S. government. What is this costing us?

The Web site for Blackwater USA advertises 'contract opportunities' for personal security specialists. With eight years experience, the base salary is $550 per day, or nearly $200,000 per year. By comparison, a U.S. soldier, sailor or Marine E6 with similar experience gets paid $30,000 per year or only $82 per day.

In his 'The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,' Edward Gibbon blamed the fall of Rome on the loss of civic virtue among Roman citizens who outsourced their duties to mercenaries. I am immensely proud of our volunteer citizen-soldiers fighting for Iraqi freedom. Yet what is wrong at the top (or behind the scenes) that makes the use of mercenaries so necessary and acceptable? Not only is there something morally bankrupt about this discrepant accounting for the value of the lives of those we put in harm's way, it also calls into question why else we might be fighting in Iraq.

FRED JACOBSEN

Apollo Beach

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT