Obama’s Questionable Embrace of Mercenary Armies And Where It Might Lead

by Paul Rosenberg

Hat tip: Open Left

In a discussion with Bill Moyers, Jeremy Scahill gives credit to Obama for recognizing the existence of a problem.

In “Why Not A Progressive Foreign Policy? Part 1: The Military”, I wrote about a better way of combating terrorism than bringing war to Afghanistan, and continuing to kill innocent civilians–a way much more consistent with the main thrust of Obama’s speech in Cairo. In the transition between laying out the problem, and presenting that better way, I wrote:

But before we turn to what that better way is, I just want to take note of former Democracy Now producer Jeremy Scahill on Bill Moyers Journal last night, sketching out some of what’s going wrong right now. I’ll be looking at what he talked about more closely in a follow-up diary, which will serve to underscore just how much is at stake if we don’t get serious about crafting a progressive alternative. Scahill discusses the continuation of military privatization under Obama, and the dangerous direction it threatens to lead us

It’s now time to take a closer look at what’s at stake, at what we risk if we do not adopt a more progressive military policy. The future is never certain, of course. But closing our eyes to foreseeable risks only makes it more uncertain, more threatening, more potentially dangerous.

In the discussion with Bill Moyers, Jeremy Scahill gives credit to Obama for recognizing the existence of a problem, if not really grasping its essential nature:

BILL MOYERS: How do explain this spike in private contractors in both Iraq and Afghanistan?

JEREMY SCAHILL: Well, I think what we’re seeing, under President Barack Obama, is sort of old wine in a new bottle. Obama is sending one message to the world, but the reality on the ground, particularly when it comes to private military contractors, is that the status quo remains from the Bush era. Right now there are 250 thousand contractors fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s about 50 percent of the total US fighting force. Which is very similar to what it was under Bush. In Iraq, President Obama has 130 thousand contractors. And we just saw a 23 percent increase in the number of armed contractors in Iraq. In Afghanistan there’s been a 29 percent increase in armed contractors. So the radical privatization of war continues unabated under Barack Obama.

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June 8th, 2009 | Posted in Web-Only Content | Read More »

High Noon: Geithner v. the American Oligarchs

t r u t h o u t
Friday 13 February 2009
The Bill Moyers Journal

Former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), MIT Sloan School of Management professor and senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Simon Johnson examines President Obama’s plan for economic recovery.

Bill Moyers: Welcome to the Journal.

The battle is joined as they say – and here’s the headline that framed it: “High Noon: Geithner v. The American Oligarchs.” The headline is in one of the most informative new sites in the blogosphere called: baselinescenario.com. Here’s the quote that grabbed me:

“There comes a time in every economic crisis, or more specifically, in every struggle to recover from a crisis, when someone steps up to the podium to promise the policies that – they say – will deliver you back to growth. The person has political support, a strong track record, and every incentive to enter the history books. But one nagging question remains. Can this person, your new economic strategist, really break with the vested elites that got you into this much trouble?”

And here’s the man who asked that question. Simon Johnson is former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. He now teaches global economics and management at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and is a senior fellow of the Peterson Institute. He is co-founder of that website I quoted – baselinescenario.com – where he analyzes the global economic and financial crisis.

Welcome, Simon Johnson to the Journal.

Simon Johnson: Nice to be here.

Bill Moyers: What are you signaling with that headline, “Geithner vs. the American Oligarchs”?

Simon Johnson: I think I’m signaling something a little bit shocking to Americans, and to myself, actually. Which is the situation we find ourselves in at this moment, this week, is very strongly reminiscent of the situations we’ve seen many times in other places.

But they’re places we don’t like to think of ourselves as being similar to. They’re emerging markets. It’s Russia or Indonesia or a Thailand type situation, or Korea. That’s not comfortable. America is different. America is special. America is rich. And, yet, we’ve somehow find ourselves in the grip of the same sort of crisis and the same sort of oligarchs.

February 26th, 2009 | Posted in Web-Only Content | Read More »