With the tragic events of 9/11 and the ensuing two-front ground war in the Middle East, Rumsfeld got an opportunity to enact his programme with minimal opposition. The results were clear eight years into the War on Terror, when the DOD had 95,461 private contractors working for them in Iraq compared to 95,900 US military personnel. The use of private contractors was by then so embedded that Barack Obama’s pledge on the campaign trail in 2008 to bring an end to the practice became just another broken promise among many. But while the privatisation of the war effort is a topic that has been explored extensively by a number of journalists, notably Jeremy Scahill, one aspect of the program has received little coverage — namely Rumsfeld’s plan for soldiers on the payroll of the DOD. This was a scheme that would prove catastrophic for the troops and the occupied populations living under them. Veiled in the language of business-style efficiency savings, Rumsfeld’s plan was intended to eviscerate the US military, which was to become merely an appendage to the massive private forces the US would soon employ.

Also, it was a 🐂 💩 war and so was the 9/11 commission.