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Offlinemm.
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Registered: 06/15/99
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UK Prime Minister wants to privatise army
    #550149 - 02/13/02 02:04 PM (22 years, 1 month ago)

Over the past decade in the UK the government has been privitaising a wide range of industries, starting with the utility companies like water and gas, and moving on to become the first country in the world to privatise the railways. The railway privitisation was a complete disaster, as the company responsible for the track recently went bust. Now blair wants to move in onn the National Health service and the national postal service, and has already started on schools. It always used to be a joke that he wouldnt even stop at the army! Well, now it seems that he wont, a recent document released by the government suggests using private mercenaries in peacekeeping operations. What the fuck? Does anyone out there think this is not a bad idea?

from the BBC:
They may to do a better, more cost-effective job than the United Nations peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), which costs $600m (?420m) a year.

In the foreword Mr Straw says: "Today's world is a far cry from the 1960s when private military activity usually meant mercenaries of the rather unsavoury kind involved in post-colonial or neo-colonial conflicts."

The paper adds that the use of private military companies raises important concerns about human rights, sovereignty and accountability.

The document is likely to lead to a heated political debate as some MPs want no use of private companies at all.

Mr Mackinlay, a member of the Commons foreign affairs select committee, said it was "breathtaking in the extreme" that Mr Straw would "even contemplate giving such companies a veneer of respectability".

He said the foreign affairs committee, and other MPs who had been calling for the Green Paper, had expected it to herald legislation outlawing either recruitment of mercenaries in the UK or companies organising arms sales to mercenary companies.

"At the very least, we expected much tighter controls," he added.

Colonel Tim Spicer, the former Sandline head who now runs Strategic Consulting International, said private military companies would never be a substitute for forces like the British Army.

"But there are certain circumstances where the quick deployment of a private military company is going to save lives and stabilise the situation," he said.



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Edited by mm. (02/13/02 02:06 PM)

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Offlinedrunkgoat
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Registered: 01/07/01
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Re: UK Prime Minister wants to privatise army [Re: mm.]
    #550156 - 02/13/02 02:10 PM (22 years, 1 month ago)

take a high-school economics course and you'll realize the benftits of privatization.


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Offlinemm.
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Re: UK Prime Minister wants to privatise army [Re: drunkgoat]
    #550176 - 02/13/02 02:24 PM (22 years, 1 month ago)

I know what they teach in high-school economics and it's mostly bullshit.


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Invisiblewingnutx

Registered: 09/24/00
Posts: 2,287
Re: UK Prime Minister wants to privatise army [Re: mm.]
    #550237 - 02/13/02 03:13 PM (22 years, 1 month ago)

Free-market libertarian that I am, I like lots of privatization. In strictly economic terms, it makes a lot of sense.

For an army or police force, however, it is a very bad idea. You need a force that is beholden to its country and citizenry, not its bottom line.

Rome tried this, and fell. Italian city-states tried this and ended up occupied by their supposed protectors. England sent mercenaries to fight American revolutionaries and they got stomped by the inferior but more motivated colonists.

As far as saving money, a good military is inherently wasteful in peacetime. They spend lots of money training for a war that isn't being fought. They have to, since by the time fighting starts it is too late to begin training. Look at the American Army at the beginning of WWII: we were getting our butts kicked up until Caserene(sp?) Pass.


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InvisibleAgent Cooper
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Registered: 08/03/00
Posts: 210
Loc: right behind you
Re: UK Prime Minister wants to privatise army [Re: mm.]
    #550730 - 02/14/02 12:10 AM (22 years, 1 month ago)

Sounds like a plan to me: privatize the UK military, and then after it inevitably collapses upon itself due to neoliberal ideology/ trendy one-size-fits-all solutions, the world will be with one less war machine of the state. God the Save the Ideologues! Maybe Argentina could use such a plan as well...

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OfflineBuddha
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Registered: 12/21/99
Posts: 356
Loc: Toronto
Last seen: 21 years, 10 months
Re: UK Prime Minister wants to privatise army [Re: Agent Cooper]
    #552384 - 02/15/02 10:16 AM (22 years, 1 month ago)

I wouldn't want my tax dollars going towards the army.
I think its great that they're giving people the option of choosing weather or not they're going to pay for innocent people being killed.

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Invisiblewingnutx

Registered: 09/24/00
Posts: 2,287
Re: UK Prime Minister wants to privatise army [Re: Buddha]
    #552646 - 02/15/02 01:39 PM (22 years, 1 month ago)

A privatized army would be a contractor paid by the government. You'd still pay taxes towards it.


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OfflineBuddha
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Registered: 12/21/99
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Re: UK Prime Minister wants to privatise army [Re: wingnutx]
    #553245 - 02/16/02 12:53 AM (22 years, 1 month ago)

thats too bad. But I bet you'd pay less taxes on it because it would be more efficient.

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Offline-
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Registered: 02/26/01
Posts: 11
Last seen: 22 years, 1 month
Re: UK Prime Minister wants to privatise army [Re: Buddha]
    #553572 - 02/16/02 12:56 PM (22 years, 1 month ago)

privatization of military = less acountability to the taxpayers/citizens

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