Mercenaries

[Carl Remick]

Novelist Frederick Forsyth had an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal the 
other day calling for use of mercenary forces in Africa due to the 
fecklessness of UN peacekeepers there.  This struck me as just the kind of 
bad idea that is likely to catch on.  I was pleased to see the following 
post in today’s Slate, which contains at least some of the key points that 
would provide a forceful argument against such action:

"Mercenaries have been around since organized warfare ... the Swiss were 
world-famous mercenaries for several hundred years. The problems with 
mercenaries are equally old. They tend to have divided or weak loyalties. 
The Swiss would famously go on strike on the night before crucial battles 
and demand more money. They also harm their employers by making military 
adventures too easy. The French dabbled in interventions frequently, using 
their (excellent) Foreign Legion in places where public opinion would never 
have allowed the sons of France to be put at risk. But when the adventure 
would sometimes escalate, the only choices were to send the regular army in 
(very unpopular) or back out in disgrace and defeat (also unpopular). 
Mercenaries today make it easier for a government to become entangled in a 
military action that is not supported by a majority of its citizens, and in 
which it has no vital national interests. That is exactly the kind of action 
you want to avoid, not make easier.  – TomFool"

Carl

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