A news item this week lamented the fact that as many as 800 civilian employees of Pentagon subcontractors have been killed in Iraq, and as many as 3,300 wounded doing their jobs without getting "the kind of publicity or respect a soldier would."

The writer of the article completely missed the reality of the situation.

It's normal and easy to respect and feel sadness for warriors wounded or killed fighting to protect a nation. But these civilians have voluntarily placed themselves in danger of crippling or death in exchange for large sums of money that soldiers are not making for doing a more hazardous and patriotic job.

Civilians are doing functions such as cooking meals, doing laundry, guarding prisoners and standing sentry, all support services the Army can no longer provide, because there is no longer a compulsory draft, and most young Americans are too smart to jeopardize their lives in unwarranted and unnecessary wars. So the military is always shorthanded.

As civilian employees of companies such as Wackenhut, Blackwater, and Halliburton, which make humongous profits from the war—much of it proven to be from immorally excessive overpricing—and as individuals who also profit from the war, these people have absolutely no claim to the same respect American soldiers receive from the American public.