register<\/a><\/h3>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Americans talk contractors, they really mean mercenaries Secret Afghanistan papers published in the Washington Post showed the total failure of 20 years of warmaking Opinion Jan 03, 2020by Rick Salutin… You must be logged in to view this content. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131481,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[106],"class_list":["post-36162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-afghanistan","tag-afghanistan"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen Americans talk contractors, they really mean mercenaries - Isenberg Institute of Strategic Satire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When Americans talk contractors, they really mean mercenaries - Isenberg Institute of Strategic Satire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When Americans talk contractors, they really mean mercenaries Secret Afghanistan papers published in the Washington Post showed the total failure of 20 years of warmaking Opinion Jan 03, 2020by Rick Salutin… You must be logged in to view this content. … Continue reading →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Isenberg Institute of Strategic Satire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-07T21:06:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dynamicmedia.zuza.com\/zz\/m\/original_\/4\/4\/44ece9f3-a358-491d-a1cc-becc5e168443\/B88999117Z.1_20200103120646_000_GF0RGLGT.3-0_Super_Portrait.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Isenberg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Isenberg\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"David Isenberg\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b60308e3aa40f89495fde6cf0bded668\"},\"headline\":\"When Americans talk contractors, they really mean mercenaries\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-07T21:06:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":807,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dynamicmedia.zuza.com\\\/zz\\\/m\\\/original_\\\/4\\\/4\\\/44ece9f3-a358-491d-a1cc-becc5e168443\\\/B88999117Z.1_20200103120646_000_GF0RGLGT.3-0_Super_Portrait.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Afghanistan\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Afghanistan\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\\\/\",\"name\":\"When Americans talk contractors, they really mean mercenaries - Isenberg Institute of Strategic Satire\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dynamicmedia.zuza.com\\\/zz\\\/m\\\/original_\\\/4\\\/4\\\/44ece9f3-a358-491d-a1cc-becc5e168443\\\/B88999117Z.1_20200103120646_000_GF0RGLGT.3-0_Super_Portrait.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-07T21:06:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b60308e3aa40f89495fde6cf0bded668\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dynamicmedia.zuza.com\\\/zz\\\/m\\\/original_\\\/4\\\/4\\\/44ece9f3-a358-491d-a1cc-becc5e168443\\\/B88999117Z.1_20200103120646_000_GF0RGLGT.3-0_Super_Portrait.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dynamicmedia.zuza.com\\\/zz\\\/m\\\/original_\\\/4\\\/4\\\/44ece9f3-a358-491d-a1cc-becc5e168443\\\/B88999117Z.1_20200103120646_000_GF0RGLGT.3-0_Super_Portrait.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"When Americans talk contractors, they really mean mercenaries\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/\",\"name\":\"Isenberg Institute of Strategic Satire\",\"description\":\"Unpacking the Private Military Complex\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b60308e3aa40f89495fde6cf0bded668\",\"name\":\"David Isenberg\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0a2e33ccc43220f0bd5c218a05e6495b12a424b99c963810cfe2108faf9f3755?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0a2e33ccc43220f0bd5c218a05e6495b12a424b99c963810cfe2108faf9f3755?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0a2e33ccc43220f0bd5c218a05e6495b12a424b99c963810cfe2108faf9f3755?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Isenberg\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/author\\\/worden35\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"When Americans talk contractors, they really mean mercenaries - Isenberg Institute of Strategic Satire","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"When Americans talk contractors, they really mean mercenaries - Isenberg Institute of Strategic Satire","og_description":"When Americans talk contractors, they really mean mercenaries Secret Afghanistan papers published in the Washington Post showed the total failure of 20 years of warmaking Opinion Jan 03, 2020by Rick Salutin… You must be logged in to view this content. … Continue reading →","og_url":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\/","og_site_name":"Isenberg Institute of Strategic Satire","article_published_time":"2020-01-07T21:06:07+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/dynamicmedia.zuza.com\/zz\/m\/original_\/4\/4\/44ece9f3-a358-491d-a1cc-becc5e168443\/B88999117Z.1_20200103120646_000_GF0RGLGT.3-0_Super_Portrait.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"David Isenberg","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Isenberg","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\/"},"author":{"name":"David Isenberg","@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/#\/schema\/person\/b60308e3aa40f89495fde6cf0bded668"},"headline":"When Americans talk contractors, they really mean mercenaries","datePublished":"2020-01-07T21:06:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\/"},"wordCount":807,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dynamicmedia.zuza.com\/zz\/m\/original_\/4\/4\/44ece9f3-a358-491d-a1cc-becc5e168443\/B88999117Z.1_20200103120646_000_GF0RGLGT.3-0_Super_Portrait.jpg","keywords":["Afghanistan"],"articleSection":["Afghanistan"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\/","url":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\/","name":"When Americans talk contractors, they really mean mercenaries - Isenberg Institute of Strategic Satire","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dynamicmedia.zuza.com\/zz\/m\/original_\/4\/4\/44ece9f3-a358-491d-a1cc-becc5e168443\/B88999117Z.1_20200103120646_000_GF0RGLGT.3-0_Super_Portrait.jpg","datePublished":"2020-01-07T21:06:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/#\/schema\/person\/b60308e3aa40f89495fde6cf0bded668"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dynamicmedia.zuza.com\/zz\/m\/original_\/4\/4\/44ece9f3-a358-491d-a1cc-becc5e168443\/B88999117Z.1_20200103120646_000_GF0RGLGT.3-0_Super_Portrait.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dynamicmedia.zuza.com\/zz\/m\/original_\/4\/4\/44ece9f3-a358-491d-a1cc-becc5e168443\/B88999117Z.1_20200103120646_000_GF0RGLGT.3-0_Super_Portrait.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/when-americans-talk-contractors-they-really-mean-mercenaries\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"When Americans talk contractors, they really mean mercenaries"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/#website","url":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/","name":"Isenberg Institute of Strategic Satire","description":"Unpacking the Private Military Complex","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/#\/schema\/person\/b60308e3aa40f89495fde6cf0bded668","name":"David Isenberg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a2e33ccc43220f0bd5c218a05e6495b12a424b99c963810cfe2108faf9f3755?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a2e33ccc43220f0bd5c218a05e6495b12a424b99c963810cfe2108faf9f3755?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a2e33ccc43220f0bd5c218a05e6495b12a424b99c963810cfe2108faf9f3755?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"David Isenberg"},"url":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/author\/worden35\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phczRl-9pg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131481"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36162\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}