Mercenaries for Humanity

[Tydeus]

So, I came up with this on the bus:

A non-profit, humanitarian organization, but composed of mercenaries. Getting ethnically cleansed? Give us a ring, and we'll drop by with some heavily armed and armored soldiers who'll take care of your problem. We'll sell t-shirts and writbands. It'll be great.

"Making the world safer, one bullet at a time." (slogan)

In all seriousness, the idea is pretty simple. Basically, the UN, but with bullets. We wouldn't do regime change, and we'd try our best to get the support of the UN and/or other world powers. We'd be strictly non-profit, so we'd be able to take on cases with no possibility of monetary gain, like Darfur.

Darfur is actually sort of the archetypical "job" that Mercenaries for Humanity would take. Ethnic cleansing, defenseless refugees, not regime change, defense-oriented. Janjaweed come into a village, expecting to rape and pillage, and instead find a dozen soldiers. It'd be an international force dedicated to giving people their comuppance.

Eh?

[adamark]

You can't be a mercenary and be non-profit. A mercenary works for money, by definition.

I know of people who wanted to do something like this for Darfur (I am one of them), but in the end it's very difficult to really set it up. And you'll probably just end up as an unknown corpse in a foreign country. I'm told there are privately owned militias operating as mercenaries, but they are never sent in to protect innocent people like Darfurians. Instead they are usually paid by the US gov or by US corporations to defend US or corporate assets/interests overseas. Not fun at all :/

There are historical examples of this, look up the Abraham Lincoln Brigade that fought in the Spanish Civil War against the fascists.

[Mirai Gen]

Well, completely ignoring the non-profit mercenary thing, it basically sounds like you're trying to incite rebellion through an anrchistic USA terrorist group.

Also: Is there a point to this thread?

[Althane]

Technically, being a mercenary is illegal under law.

However, I have entertained the idea of starting a mercenary company (assuming I could get funding) for various reasons. Overall, if I ran it, it would fight, for money, for the side that I thought to be ethically right.

Of course, now this means that I can be attacked (politically) for fighting what I believe to be right. >_>

[42PETUNIAS]

It sounds solid, but the idea of mercenaries to help the people never really helps the world. you'd probably just end up being seen as another conflicting group, and would be disliked by the U.N. and major countries, despite whatever good you were hoping to bring to the world.

[Bells]

Actually... sounded a little like Klu Klux Klan....

[P-Sleazy]

You're also forgetting that you're gonna need some kind of training in your trade if you want to even be considered as an option for people to hire. LOTS and LOTS of training. Then you're also gonna need to have a bunch of permits to take your weapons across borders, or atleast find out where or who you can buy weapons from in said country. After that theres also the body armor that you might want to invest in. More training. Lots of people, You can't just go in with a few tens of people to protect a couple thousands. You'll be straining yourselves to thinly, not to mention you'll need to do shifts so everyone can sleep. More training from specialists. Then finally, you'll need some financial backing to start you up in the first place so you can become trained and armed and armored.

So thats a bit of the logistics you'll need to think about. Theres probably LOTS more than that still.

[Sky Warrior Bob]

If something like this went down, I don't see it working out well. Basically, what I forsee happening, is a number of people who join up with this sort of thing, do so entirely on the premise of being violent. People who don't take issue with killing another person, just as long as they've got an excuse.

Problem with that, is that it could easily get out of hand. People like that could easily start killing for the sake of killing, and that can easily happen if the situation devolves even a little bit.

Plus, what is the advantage of having it be a independent armed force, and not just the military to begin with? And why would it hold any more attraction than such legitimate established forces? I mean, I suppose if the UN started taking on volunteers to consist its troops, that could make some sense. But it'd still be the UN Armed Forces & not this Mercenary group you're thinking of.

SWB

[Krylo]

Originally Posted by Sky Warrior Bob

Plus, what is the advantage of having it be a independent armed force, and not just the military to begin with?

A lack of political responsibility. As a mercenary force pledging allegiance to no country, you don't have to worry about the world political spectrum. You just go in, be violent, and leave. No need to pass it through congress. No need to worry about sending people off to die who may not be willing. No need to worry about how the people back home are going to react. No need to worry about international politics. You just do it.

I mean, I suppose if the UN started taking on volunteers to consist its troops, that could make some sense. But it'd still be the UN Armed Forces & not this Mercenary group you're thinking of.

See above, and then add onto that the fact that dictorial countries ARE in the UN and get their votes as to where the UN goes. I don't know if Darfur is, exactly, but I know many of the dictorial regimes in the middle east and northern africa which commit such atrocities do, infact, have UN seats. Which is why the UN is basically castrated to do anything about dictatorships.

I mean, I agree that it's basically as fruitless idea, and there's far too many problems, and you're going to need a lot of money to start, and how do you screen applicants? etc. etc. However... I can see the draw of the idea.

[Loyal]

For purposes of clarification, the organization shall henceforth in this post be referred to as the Freelance Police Army, or FPA.

This sounds kinda like the idea for Command and Conquer's GDI: A military force, essentially the global police force, is dispatched by world leaders to take care of major conflicts as an independant army, not commissioned by the countries fighting themselves.

Of course, then there's the matter of Nod popping up, but seeing as the FPA would be a purely mercenary force, nobody's going to rally impovershed, third-world countries into a massive guerrila superpower under the banner of overthrowing the upright, corrupt governments and their pet army.

However, even if the FPA was approved by the UN in general, dictators and others with reason to fear being overrun would undoubtedly try to disband it, through legal tribunals or outright force.

Armies would be dispatched "by coincidence" to where the FPA is doing their most recent job, on the other side for loosely veiled reasons. Counter-mercenary armies would rise up, funded by the FPA's enemies. The 'good guys' (meaning those who would support the FPA's actions) may or may not, directly or indirectly, back the FPA in its efforts.

Either way, unless the FPA was disbanded, there would probably be a third world war... but that's just my theory.