February 21, 2005

Private Armies and Government Control

Phil Carter suggests that the US should take advantage of private military units that are cropping up in Iraq.

On the other hand, Mark Kleiman raises a number of concerns including:

Armed forces not subject to governmental control are a recipe for thuggery at best, assassination in the middle, and civil war at the worst.
This seems like a pretty good description of armed forces under government control. Well, perhaps, the last phrase should be modified to read: waging war at the worst.

Posted by Steve on February 21, 2005
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