Why Using Foreign Contractors Helps Prolong Foreign Wars
Farming Out Work to Non-U.S. Employees Fosters Corruption, Hampers Logistical Oversight, and Keeps the American Public Disengaged
First it was sacks of rice. Then frozen chicken. Later, even a television. The goods were wrapped tightly in plastic bags and thrown in with the other trash in a truck. “It was simple,” Raj, a former employee, told me. “They were buying supplies and then just throwing them out.” Outside the American base in Afghanistan where Raj worked, the bags were offloaded in the market and sold to local Afghans. A piece of the profit went to the head of the kitchen staff, who organized the operation.
While we …
