Justice_ What's the Right Thing to Do_ - Michael Sandel [42]
The United States has not established a foreign legion, but it has taken a step in that direction. Faced with difficulties meeting recruiting goals as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have stretched on, the military has begun recruiting foreign immigrants currently living in the United States on temporary visas. The inducements include good pay and a fast track to American citizenship. About thirty thousand noncitizens now serve in the U.S. armed forces. The new program will extend eligibility from permanent residents with green cards to temporary immigrants, foreign students, and refugees.22
The recruitment of foreign troops is not the only way the logic of the market plays out. Once you view military service as a job like any other, there is no reason to assume the hiring must be done by the government. In fact, the United States now outsources military functions to private enterprise on a large scale. Private military contractors play an increasing role in conflicts around the world, and form a substantial part of the U.S. military presence in Iraq.
In July 2007, the Los Angeles Times reported that the number of U.S.-paid private contractors in Iraq (180,000) exceeded the number of U.S. military personnel stationed there (160,000).23 Many of the contractors perform non-combat logistical support—building bases, repairing vehicles, delivering supplies, and providing food services. But about 50,000 are armed security operatives whose work guarding bases, convoys, and diplomats often draws them into combat.24 More than 1,200 private contractors have been killed in Iraq, though they do not return in flag-draped coffins, and their numbers are not included in the U.S. military’s casualty count.25
One of the leading private military companies is Blackwater Worldwide. Erik Prince, the company’s CEO, is a former Navy SEAL with an ardent faith in the free market. He rejects the suggestion that his soldiers are “mercenaries,” a term he considers “slanderous.”26 Prince explains: “We’re trying to do for the national security apparatus what Federal Express did for the postal service.”27 Blackwater received over $1 billion in government contracts for its services in Iraq, but has often been at the center of controversy.28 Its role first came to public attention in 2004, when four of its employees were ambushed and killed in Fallujah and two of the bodies were strung from a bridge. The incident led President George W. Bush to order the Marines into Fallujah in a massive and costly battle with insurgents.
In 2007, six Blackwater guards opened fire on a crowd in a Baghdad square, killing seventeen civilians. The guards, who claimed they had been fired upon first, were immune from prosecution under Iraqi law because of rules laid down by the American governing authority after the invasion. The contractors were eventually indicted for manslaughter by the U.S. Justice Department, and the incident led the Iraqi government to demand the withdrawal of Blackwater from the country.29
Many in Congress and in the public at large object to the outsourcing of war to for-profit companies such as Blackwater. Much of the criticism focuses on the unaccountability of these companies, and their involvement in abuses. Several years before the Blackwater shooting incident, private contractors from other companies were among those who abused detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. Although the army soldiers involved were court-martialed, the private contractors were not punished.30
But suppose Congress tightened regulations on private military companies to make them more accountable, and to hold their employees to the same standards