Think Things Over with Regards to Security Contractors

Fire of Liberty

Mark Hemingway has a good piece over at National Review Online that takes a look at the discussion that is occurring amongst various JAG's officers, the leadership in the Pentagon, Blackwater security and the other security companies that serve in Iraq, on whether to continue to cover these companies under the Uniform Code of Military Justice or push these security companies further under the umbrella of the UCMJ. I have to say that Hemingway pretty much conveys the point that when members of Congress pass laws in an effort to make things better or make them legally and politically expedient, the parties that are involved generally discover such actions create greater problems than what they were trying to ameliorate. As with anything as complex and important as this, I'd recommend members of Congress and the leadership should think things over long and hard before the haphazardly slap restrictions on these security teams and place a greater burden on our military forces who have more pressing duties at hand.