Defense Contractors

Before this past Friday's lecture in War in Afghanistan, I had no idea that Defense Contractors such as Blackwater Worldwide (now know as XE services but still commonly refereed to as Blackwater) even existed. I thought mercenaries such as these only existed in video games, movies and books and only because being mercenaries allows them to blow stuff up more casually and realistically than US soldiers could. It turns out the way they act in real life isn't too far off from how they are portrayed in fictional media.

Honestly, I'm still not sure why these guns for hire exist. Do we not have enough troops on the ground between us and our allies? Do we really need to hire more guns, especially from groups such as these? According to one soldier in my class who has been to the middle east, these Blackwater guys are total cowboys. They are allegedly pumped up on steroids and alcohol 24/7 and have a total disregard for rules of engagement.

I'm not sure how I missed this story but apparently the Blackwater guys were in some hot water for the deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians. According to our soldier friend from class, these guys couldn't care less about their actions, mostly because their superiors do nothing to punish them. How does something like that go unpunished? Why do we allow these guys to act like this and why oh why are we paying them for it? This is all rather ridiculous to me and I cannot fathom why we would pay these guys when we could just as easily pay to recruit new soldiers.

Bloody History

Before this semester I really had no idea of Afghanistan history. To say that the last couple of weeks have been eye opening is an understatement. Afghan history is unlike any other country whose history I’m familiar with. For the most part, Afghanistan has been a loose collection of tribal families for the majority of its history. Succession of leadership is often a bloody and violent affair for Afghans, something that makes me very glad to live in the country I that do. In addition to that, Afghans have had to deal with the fact that their country basically lies in the middle of everything. They’re like the one house standing in the way of the local government building a highway and it has to be tough for them. They way the Russians and the British battled over them in the so called “great game” was especially brutal.

Perhaps nothing in Afghans history compares to the trials and tribulations facing the country now, in the current Afghanistan War, perpetrated by my own country. The sick thing about this war to me is that Afghanistan did nothing to the United States. It was a group of terrorists hiding in Afghanistan, yes, but the country and 99% of the people in it did nothing to deserve this war. Personally, I am against war for any reason. It is a shame that we had to have troops in Afghanistan to begin with, just to find Bin Laden, buts just the way it is, given the shape of Afghanistan’s military compared to our own. But to have that escalate to all out war is just unacceptable to me. I guess now, 9 years later, all we can do is hope for a quick and peaceful resolution to this.

Reintegrating Terrorists Using Video Games

As my blog title states, I am a gamer, that is, someone who enjoys video and board games in his spare time. As such I thought it would be appropriate to start my blog with a news story that ties into my favorite hobby. As reported by the Telegraph, Saudi Arabia has launched a new program to reintegrate terrorists using video games. This is in addition to "positive thinking classes" and art therapy, so it's not just a bunch of terrorists playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 all day. Now, I find this interesting because most of the time when the media reports on video games, it is because someone was murdered and the police (or someone else along the way) tied it into video games.

The report claims that the new integration program hasn't been entirely successful. One former Guantanamo bay inmate went through the program, apparently quit and is now deputy leader of Al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula, the group supposedly behind the attempted Christmas day bombing in 2009. Unfortunately he is among a dozen others who have since rejoined Al-Qaeda since going through the controversial new program. Still General Mansur al-Turki remains hopeful that the program is working, stating that: "We are confident in our system, part of that is the rehabilitation programme, and when we say that we are considering one thing - the results we are getting. We are not giving up because a few people decided to go back and share al-Qaeda activities."

I think the program is a good thing and can be very successful. It will never have 100% success rate, but even if it manages to rehabilitate and reintegrate one terrorist back into normal society, it will have been worth it.The senior psychologist, Dr Turki al-Otayan, had this to say about his program: "People say we are spoiling them. They say they are terrorists yet we are giving them all this. But we say it's our responsibility. If we don't do it, someone else will. Al-Qaeda is waiting. They will say they will take care of you, take care of your family." And he is absolutely right. I would imagine a lot of these terrorist only joined Al-Qaeda to gain a sense of security they wouldn't have had otherwise. If we can give them that security outside of Al-Qaeda, what reason would they have to go back?