US military contractors are champing at the bit to be included in a potential US ground war against ISIS, with analysts saying many of the companies see the ISIS “marketplace” as a potential gold mine.
Officials say that using contractors as the “boots on the ground” in Iraq would be a political boon for President Obama, who could sort of avoid going back on his promise not to get US troops into combat roles.
Nominally, the contractors aren’t supposed to engage in combat either, but analysts say that they are allowed to “provide security,” which in this case is a distinction without a difference.
During the last US occupation of Iraq, there were at times over 180,000 private contractors on the ground in the country. With the US hoping to do the next war with fewer US ground troops, the percentage of contractors are likely to be much larger.
