PUSHING THE LIMITS OF THE US WARRIOR ETHOS: UNDERSTANDING THE EXTENSIVE USE OF PRIVATE MILITARY COMPANIES IN IRAQ A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS At the School of Political Studies By: Paul Racine-Sibulka To: David Grondin, thesis supervisor Miguel de Larrinaga, committee member Dominique Arel, committee member May 2014 School of Political Studies, UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA © Paul Racine-Sibulka, Ottawa, Canada, 2014 Dédié à mes parents. SUMMARY Keywords: US Warrior Ethos, Private Military Companies, Iraq, Mercenaries, Moral Identity, and Ethic. This thesis addresses the growing privatization of the US forces through the Revolution in Military Affairs and the War in Iraq and its implications for the purpose of mobilization and individual military commitment conceptualize by the US warrior ethos. Creating a dialogue between the literature on Private Military Companies and the US warrior ethos, this thesis aims at providing a comprehensive understanding of the values sustaining the warrior ethos and how they are jeopardized by the emergence of new actors in the battlespace. I argue that this commercial turn in the US military erode the warrior ethos by placing business consideration ahead of great personal risk and ultimately raises doubts about civic responsibilities and democratic control of US military affairs. LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 – US Army Commercial Campaign 2011 (‘More than a Uniform - Symbol of Strength’) 27 Figure 1.2 – Spectrum of Private Violence 38 Figure 1.3 – Kinsey’s Axis of Typologies 39 Figure 1.4 – “Tip of the Spear” Typology 41 Figure 2.1 – GySgt. John Basilone at Iwo Jima 45 Figure 2.2 – Generation Kill, Episode 7 “Bomb in the Garden” 62 Figure 4.1 – US Soldiers Patrolling in Afghanistan 86 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS AVF - All-Volunteer Force DoD - Department of Defense GAO - Government Accountability Office MPF - Military Provider Firm MCF - Military Consulting Firm MSF - Military Support Firm IHL - International Humanitarian Law IR - International Relations PMC - Private Military Companies PSC - Private Security Companies RMA - Revolution in Military Affairs US - United States of America TABLE OF CONTENTS SUMMARY................................................................................................................................. iii LIST OF FIGURES .....................................................................................................................iv ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ..................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS.............................................................................................................vi PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .........................................................................viii INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................9 1. CRISIS, WHAT CRISIS?...............................................................................................................12 2. THE SOLDIER’s FIGURE, A LIVING PARADOX: REFLECTIONS ON THE WARRIOR ETHOS.................................................................................................................................................14 3. OUTLINE OF THE ARGUMENT ................................................................................................19 CHAPTER 1.............................................................................................................................. 23 ANALYSING THE DISCOURSE ON US SOLDIERING THROUGH THE WARRIOR ETHOS: A POSTSTRUCTURALIST ETHOS ....................................................................................................23 1. INTRODUCING THE APPROACH: POSTSTRUCTURALISM IN IR ....................................24 2. THE US WARRIOR ETHOS: A MORAL IDENTITY ................................................................26 3. EXISTING LITTERATURE ON THE PRIVATE MILITARY INDUSTRY: OVERVIEW AND DEFINITIONS ....................................................................................................................................34 DEFINING MERCENARY ACTIVITY....................................................................................................... 34 THEORIZING PMCS...................................................................................................................................... 36 4. SUMMARY......................................................................................................................................41 CHAPTER 2.............................................................................................................................. 44 THE US WARRIOR ETHOS................................................................................................... 44 1. THE ALL-VOLUNTEER FORCE: TOWARDS THE RMA AND THE US WARRIOR ETHOS.................................................................................................................................................46 2. AN EXPLORATORY DEFINITION OF THE WARRIOR ETHOS: A 21ST CENTURY IDEAL ..................................................................................................................................................51 3. ON SOLDIERING: ETHICS AND MORALITY IN KILLING...................................................57 RESTRAINT..................................................................................................................................................... 58 SACRIFICE ....................................................................................................................................................... 61 4. SUMMARY .....................................................................................................................................65 CHAPTER 3.............................................................................................................................. 67 THE PRIVATE MILITARY COMPANIES AND THE WAR IN IRAQ.............................. 67 1. WITHOUT YOU, WE CAN’T SUCCEED....................................................................................69 2. SHADOWS OF THE WAR IN IRAQ: A TALE OF TWO ARMIES.........................................72 ETHICS AND MERCENARIES: A PRIVATE DILEMMA................................................................... 81 3. SUMMARY .....................................................................................................................................83 CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................... 85 TOWARDS A BRAVE NEW US WARRIOR ETHOS ...................................................................88 ANNEX A: CONTEMPORARY MERCENARIES ................................................................. 89 ANNEX B: THE GENEVA CONVENTION ON MERCENARIES ...................................... 90 ANNEX C: .................................................................................................................................. 91 THE CASPAR WEINBERER DOCTRINE FOR US MILITARY INTERVENTION........ 91 ANNEX D:.................................................................................................................................. 92 THE US ARMY WARRIOR ETHOS...................................................................................... 92 ANNEX E: .................................................................................................................................. 93 THE MERCENARY AND THE PATRIOT............................................................................ 93 CITED REFERENCES.............................................................................................................. 94 vii PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I remain deeply grateful to my thesis examiners, Dr. Dominique Arel and Dr. Miguel de Larrinaga for their generous comments and advices. No words could suffice to express my gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Dr. David Grondin who provided invaluable insights and support through the years. Many thanks for becoming such a good and irreplaceable friend. INTRODUCTION The distinctions between legitimate and illegitimate violence, between wars of liberation and wars of oppression, tend to blur. All violence fades to gray. War itself, regardless of the distinctions one tries to make, is oppressing us. This is Simplicissimus’s cynical perspective. – Hardt & Negri, Multitude (2004: 32). La guerre est le père de toutes choses, et de toutes choses il est le roi ; c’est lui qui fait que certains sont des dieux et d’autres des hommes, que certains sont des esclaves quand d’autres sont libres. – Héraclite, Fragments (2004: 126). Many academics in International Relations (IR) believe that war and soldiering have played a central role in our societies and continue to do so. For a country like the United States (US), shaped and defined by wars throughout its history, such a statement is poignant and accurate. While war has become a lasting component of US foreign policy, the 21st century opened up with a world stage replete with wars that were anything but morally close to what is known as the “greatest” war of the 20th Century: the Second World War (Gerstle in Kazin 2006: 130). Twenty years after the end of the Cold War, initial hopes for a better world have not materialized and war is enduring; the long lasting “war on terror” that begun