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Would I Hire Mercenaries? Hell Yes!
If
I had substantial assets (not to mention my own life and the lives of
my family and friends) at risk, I’d sure want the best quality
security operatives protecting them. Anyone demure? Just
because BlackwaterUSA is a
private firm, is the beef here? BFD
in my humble opinion. I’d gladly
pay Blackwater or any other private outfit whatever I needed to in
order to protect the lives and assets that are of value to me rather
than leave them totally unprotected or under the care of arguably the
worst major urban police force in America today. And since the only
alternative would be to load up on food, water, and 7.62mm Soviet ammo
for the SKS rifles
and ride it out myself, Blackwater is a pretty good option to have
available, eh? Between
Mayor Ray Nagin, the NOPD, FEMA, and the various and sundry local,
state, and federal badges and uniforms doing security on the one hand,
or doing it myself on the other, I’d cut that check in a second. If
Blackwater or whoever I hire screws up, I have recourse against them.
I can fire them, replace them, and/or sue them for damages. What
recourse do I have against the NOPD? (A very apt abbreviation too,
“NO-PD.” But I digress.) We
are often told that this practice is bad because it is a privilege of
the rich and powerful. Yes sir, it often is. To restate, however: If I
had a multi-million dollar facility, building, or other physical
property or real estate, I probably do not care to have displaced
refugees, looters, scalawags, rogue cops, and whoever all else given
unhindered access to my stuff. Selfish I may be, but I don’t wish to
have my property and people put at risk in this way. Maybe some of the
objectors don’t have the money or the guts to provide for their own
defense. This is sad, but so is life sometimes, too. Why
blame only the poor and weak for their fecklessness and for being
unprepared, but not the home and business owners who also fecklessly
made no provision for their protection and defense? It is the same
comparison morally as well in my opinion, too. Benjamin
Franklin is reputed to have said, “A fool and his money soon go
separate ways.” The same could be said of home and business owners
who make no provision for the safety of the people under their
authority or assets under their management or ownership. And those
people’s lives and the value of their property will “go separate
ways” too if the persons in charge of its husbandry fail to have
means to protect and defend it. Blackwater and other private firms are
one possible answer here, and those who disparage or condemn the use
of these expensive but thoroughly trained and very professional
paramilitary security firms should be called upon to explain their
objections. As
I perused the Internet in researching this article, I was able to find
many credible news reports of What
is the objection, then? That being able to afford private security
isn’t “fair” in some way? Life isn’t fair, either, I would
also point out. If I were a resident of an apartment or renting a
building, no way would I consider hiring expensive security. I’d
take what I could and get out of town and “end of story” on that
issue. This option is the mirror image of the well-heeled property
owner: nothing to lose and so nothing to protect. People
are a lot more rational at considering what their best interests are
than the pundits in the media give them credit for. In my observation
over the years, the formulation that “poor = stupid” just isn’t
true. They have less money and resources, but stupidity isn’t
necessarily the reason why. So
the pissers and moaners in the media should be more circumspect about
complaining about private security options. The Italians have a saying
that goes, “Never disparage another man’s racket; you never know
when you’ll have to do it yourself.” Which is sage advice,
methinks. |
This
past long weekend edition of 
