Pissing on the world, Pissing off the world

Today Gail Collins underlines some of the irresponsible, frat-boy behavior of American military contractors in Afghanistan.

What do you think Dwight Eisenhower would say about all of this? In his last speech as president, Eisenhower famously warned the country about “the potential for the disastrous use of misplaced power” if the military industrial complex got too big. That was back when defense contractors just sold the Pentagon fighter jets and wildly expensive widgets. Imagine how Ike would have reacted if they were driving the C.I.A. to snatch-and-grab dates.

But doesn't the humiliation at Abu Ghraib, and elsewhere, teach us that we can't blame contractors for things that even our professional soldiers are engaging in?

I understand that most of the men and women in our armed forces are professionals who are taking very seriously the increased sensitivity to cultures their jobs require, but I can't help but ask: when "accidents" like the contractors pissing on each other and Abu Ghraib villainies do occur, isn't there at least a trace of purposefulness to them? Don't such events function to tell the darkies out there in those lands who is boss?