Mercenaries And Monsters

The world tends to look down on mercenaries, despite the fact that they only do what everyone else does—earn a living. It’s just that their profession is different. More to the point, it challenges what governments believe should be their sole providence. The ability to wage war.

Former SAS officer, Simon Mann, was abducted from Zimbabwe and spirited away to Equatorial Guinea—whose government he is accused of plotting to overthrow. He hasn’t denied that he participated in some planning, but he does claim that no action was taken beyond planning—and that no crimes have been committed as a result. Unless it is a crime, of course, to think that a government ought to be overthrown.

Equatorial Guinea has one of the most corrupt and oppressive governments around…and lots of oil. Is it any coincidence that nations with oil always have corrupt governments?

If there are some soldiers of fortune out there who wanted to make a political and moral statement—not to mention the possibilities inherent in freeing a project manager with data that might be useful, they ought to liberate Mr. Mann. Better yet, if the people in Equatorial Guinea want a better life, they ought to liberate him and rise up against their government.

Personally, I believe the world needs more mercenaries for two reasons, and Mr. Mann’s case is a good example of both…

One: in a world where global government is increasingly an apparent agenda among nations, they provide one of the few counterweights that have the ability and provide the means to preserve national sovereignty. It’s a philosophical and moral stance that might seem odd to most people, but there are many obvious things wrong with the notion of global government that warrant the continued existence of war in my opinion. Primarily, they have to do with the right to dissent, the ability to embrace different culture and beliefs. However, I also think the belief that destroying all cultural, racial, ethical, regional and ancestral ties for the sake of government efficiency and to benefit the wealthiest few in society is not a good idea for anyone but the wealthiest few.

Two: since the international community is too weak and cowardly to confront the monsters in the world when they have a chance to actually save lives, mercenaries could do (and often have) what political cowards fail to do—which is slay the monsters among us. Too many governments oppress their people and keep them living in poverty, fear and terror. And, in our technologically advanced age, you can’t always overthrow governments with pitchforks or colored ribbons. Even governments such as our own here in the USA has been derelict in its duty to the people and may need to be held accountable some day. While every nation on the planet likes to think it has plenty of patriots, you never know when you may need to rent your dogs of war or lease some wild geese. If nothing else, it keeps dictators on their toes with one more thing to worry about.