A news item this week lamented the fact that as many as 800
civilian employees of Pentagon subcontractors have been killed
in Iraq, and as many as 3,300 wounded doing their jobs without
getting "the kind of publicity or respect a soldier would."

The writer of the article missed the reality of the situation. It's normal
and easy to respect and feel sadness for warriors wounded or killed
fighting to protect the nation. But these other people have voluntarily
placed themselves in danger of incapacitation or death in exchange
for large sums of money that soldiers are not making for doing a more
hazardous job.

These civilians are doing the support functions such as cook meals,
do laundry, guard prisoners and stand sentry, all support services the
Army can no longer provide, because it is no longer a volunteer army
and most young Americans are too smart to jeopardize their lives in
unwarranted and unnecessary wars. So the military is shorthanded.

As civilian employees of companies such as Wackenhut, Blackwater,
and Halliburton, which make humongous profits from the war¯much of
it proven to be from immorally excessive overpricing¯and as individuals
who also profit from the war, these people have absolutely no claim to the
same respect American soldiers receive from the American public.

Morevover, if our military leaders knew they didn't have the manpower to
support an aggressive invasion of another country—why did they initiate
the venture? And why did the men and women of Congress allow them?