Trump is increasingly fond of an idea from Eric Prince to replace the US troops in Afghanistan with a private for-profit military.
NBC News reported:
President Donald Trump is increasingly venting frustration to his national security team about the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and showing renewed interest in a proposal by Blackwater founder Erik Prince to privatize the war, current and former senior administration officials said.
Prince’s idea, which first surfaced last year during the president’s Afghanistan strategy review, envisions replacing troops with private military contractors who would work for a special U.S. envoy for the war who would report directly to the president.
There is an immense number of ethical and security concerns that would come with a privatization of the US effort. For instance, would Congress still have oversight power over a private military force? A private military force that reports only to Trump also would avoid the rules of war and the Geneva Convention. A private military force is both unethical and would make the United States less secure.
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Trump is now the third president to struggle with the Afghanistan conflict. Obama had the right idea. The problem isn’t that the US military can’t handle the war in Afghanistan. The problem is that the conflict is unwinnable. A for-profit military is a recipe for corruption. Trump is trying to take money from the taxpayers and line the pockets of his friends, and no one would be surprised to find out that some of that money will end up in the bank account of Trump.
Donald Trump is not content will pillaging the taxpayers domestically. He is also going to steal from them with an unlawful privatization of war.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
