Yahoo! News - Rumsfeld Seeking to Bolster Force Without New G.I.'s: "Mr. Rumsfeld told Congress he wanted to transfer to civilians or contract workers an estimated 300,000 administrative jobs now performed by people in uniform.
While some on Capitol Hill reject that total as high, one senior Pentagon official said that if even one-sixth of those jobs were converted, then the equivalent of more than two Army divisions could enter the fighting force without any increase in the number of paid military personnel. "

Rumsfeld claims that having civilians do the admin will free up two divisions. But think about that for a minute--a couple of seconds even. Is he honestly suggesting that he is going to send two divisions of administrative people into battle? What will they fight with, typewriters and NCR forms?

No. They will be laid off. They will hire mercenaries to do more of the fighting. And raise the "defense" budget to pay for it all.

I don't think that privatization will help, it will enrich GOP supporters however, and that is the reason for all this.

Privatization is part of the administration's secret strategy; replace government with privatized services. It is well documented by analysts that these services end up costing much more than they did before they were privatized. Leading to fewer services and more profit for the private providers. And, if you have been reading this blog you will know that the private contractors who the Pentagon has hired to supply the troops in Iraq have been criticised severely for failing to deliver, leading to rationing of water for example.

We're getting snowed again. They are using the war on terror to do everything they wanted to do anyway. That disgusts me. It's like using murdered people for their private gain.

- posted by geoff @ #