Quote of the Week: Tito Tricot

"There is something truly perverse about the privatization of the Iraq War and the utilization of mercenaries. The externalization of services or outsourcing attempts to lower the costs - 'third world' mercenaries are paid less than their counterparts from the developed world - and maximize benefits, i.e.: Let others fight the war for the Americans. In either case, the Iraqi people do not matter at all. It is precisely this dehumanization of the 'enemy' that makes it easier for the private companies and the U.S. government to recruit mercenaries. It is exactly the same strategy used by the Chilean military to train members of the secret police and make it easy to annihilate opponents of dictatorship. In other words, Chilean mercenaries in Iraq is business as usual." - Tito Tricot- in Jeremy Scahill's brilliant Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army