Guest, civilian contractor in iraq --

I read the interview with your boss. He spouts a lot of gobbledygook, but when pressed on cost effectiveness, he waffles:

"It's a very cost-effective way of doing business...

I didn't do the numbers, but I'm telling you, it's cheaper...

So if you're asking me to do the business case and give you the puts and takes on it, I can't do that..."

However, I'm less interested in whether your involvement in Iraq is cost-effective than I am in whether it's morally right.

Here's what he says about you and your motivations:

"Well, essentially they're Americans that have one or two different motivations for coming. You've already mentioned the fact that they come to earn money. Well, that's true; many of them do, for good, sufficient reason[s]. You take a truck driver who comes over here and wants to drive because he gets a good wage, but at the same time he might know that the money he makes in this year will be able to pay for his rig back in the States, and he puts himself on an economical base that's good for his family and his future. So why wouldn't he do that? That's what our society is all about."

The truly sad state of affairs is when private citizens, who are not obliged to obey orders from George Bush, decide to ride on his coattails into his illegal, immoral and criminal war to enrich themselves. To hide behind the threadbare excuse of "supporting the troops" is ludicrous.

It's a volunteer army, but once enlisted, soldiers have limited options. (I salute true heroes like Lt. Ehren Watada, who refuses to take part.) You, on the other hand, have no such excuse. You chose of your own free will to be part of this evil enterprise, and you will be judged accordingly.

Cheers,
Michael