The Hardest of the Hardcore

Dylan's paper on the war of Iraq and the function of contractors was interesting to read. I think that his paper was interesting and would have appeal to his audience because of how serious the war in Iraq is and it is greatly affecting our lives every day. Dylan essay is about how mercenaries, ex-military personnel hired by the Pentagon to help the U.S. military, are used during warfare and the problems behind this method. Dylan clearly explains his 6 major reasons why using mercenaries are problematic. Each reason he makes he supports with enough evidence for the reader so that he seems credible and his paper is credible as well. One major problem that he mentioned that caught my eye was the problem of mercenaries not having national loyalties. He used the example of the Persian Gulf War and how mercenaries working at one of the bases fled when they heard that they could be in danger of chemical weapons. This was a strong example and a good point to prove that mercenaries are problematic during war. Overall, I think that Dylan's paper was strong and had a lot of evidence and good points. The only problem that I noticed was his conclusion. I thought his conclusion wasn't strong enough to clearly explain what he proved throughout his paper as well as what should be done. He didn't provide his audience with any solutions. All he said was that Congress and the people of the U.S. need to take action so this doesn't happen. He doesn't explain if his conclusion is that mercenaries should be eliminated all together or if Congress should take action so the abuse of power and lawlessness does not occur. I think that he should have given possible solutions to this problem so the audience has an idea of what should be done.