Mercenaries

I started writing this in an attempt to attain some clarity and focus regarding the book Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army by Jeremy Scahill (NCR, Oct. 12). I find the idea of a private corporate army, equipped with its own weapons and accountable to no one, mind-boggling. I know how it happened. We as a country let fear and emotions overcome us. We sought simple answers and allowed anti-intellectual sentiment to guide us, suspended critical thinking on tough question like civil liberties, the role of the Constitution, the balance of powers of government. These are not esoteric ideas. They are things we learned, or should have learned, in high school.

These civic truths are not the sole domain of intellectuals, they are to be to be upheld and embraced by citizens of a truly free country. Have we citizens allowed ourselves to be anesthetized by the popular culture of entertainment? What are the consequences of essentially privatizing our military forces? Who will these forces be accountable to and whose will do they serve? How will it affect us as a democracy? What impact will this practice have on civil liberties? I have many more questions and I sincerely hope my fellow citizens have more questions.

LINDA MORELY PERRI

Clearwater, Fla.

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