Mercenaries or Soldiers?
I’d been hearing for months about President Trump sending American troops to defend some oil field in Saudi Arabia. It started just after the administration pulled our soldiers out of Syria. Instead of bringing them home, like he promised, he sent them to guard this Saudi oil production plant.
To be honest, I thought it was some temporary treaty thing and didn’t really give it much thought. I mean, it didn’t make sense to me. Why would the Saudi’s need U.S. military to guard their fields, right? They have their own military. Why didn’t they do it?
Well, a few days ago I see this post on-line: https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/01/23/an-army-for-hire-trump-wants-to-make-money-by-renting-out-american-soldiers/. I wasn’t familiar with StrategicCulture.org so I went researching. Turns out they’re a right-wing site. Nothing wrong with that and I thought the article pretty well balanced, even a little negative about the “renting out of American soldiers”. Okay, well enough. Is anyone else covering this story that’s a little more mainline?
Sure enough. Months ago the Washington Post did an article on the same thing. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/10/21/trumps-claim-saudis-will-pay-percent-cost/ Only deal is, it made clear that the President isn’t getting 100% payment for the use of our military. It actually seems that there’s no official deal at all. The American taxpayer is still footing the bill for our military to protect Saudi oil. Us, the taxpayers. With no rhyme or reason that I know of about why the Saudi’s need our help to protect their oil.
Here are my thoughts. As a 20 year military vet, I’m pretty sure I’d be more than a little pissed about being sent off to some oil facility in the middle of the desert for no reason other than the boss, the President of the United States, wants to make some money. I cannot imagine those men or men and women have a very high level of morale. The reason people join their country’s military is for service. To protect our country from attack. It’s right in the oath. They certainly don’t join to line the pockets of an oath-breaking, money-grubbing, grifter, traitor who sells our land, our birthright, and our country out to the highest bidder. The fact that the Saudi’s are also state sponsors of terrorism doesn’t enamor me of them. The Saudi’s are no friends of ours. They actively work against our interests.
American military members are not mercenaries. They have a long history of duty, honor, and service to country. They pay for our freedom with their minds, bodies, and life’s blood. This is no way to treat our men and women, fathers, mothers, sons, or daughters. Call or email your congressional representatives today and let them know that you are not happy with our servicemen and women being treated like mercenaries. Demand those people be brought home.
