‘Taskmaster is the analog for the soldier of fortune, an asset that is appreciating in the current neo-medieval global system of overlapping authorities…’
TASKMASTER is a mercenary’s mercenary in the Marvel Comics Universe, a figure that pulsates in mass and social media not only due to Marvel Studio’s “Black Widow” but also because of last week’s assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise.
At least 17 ex-members of Colombia’s military are among the suspects. Why is Colombia a popular choice for those who want to hire mercenaries? “The South American country’s nearly 60 years of internal conflict have provided a prolific training ground for soldiers. For those trained as part of elite counter-terrorism units, retirement can come as early as their 40s, leaving many with only modest pensions and little idea what to do next…The United Arab Emirates has been an important client of Colombian ex-soldiers, dispatching them to fight Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, alongside fighters from Panama, El Salvador and Chile.” [https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/why-were-colombian-ex-soldiers-haiti-experts-say-they-are-popular-mercenaries-2021-07-09/] Haiti is not the only arena.
Russian mercenaries have been implicated in the torture and killing of civilians in the Central African Republic. These men, “supported by at least one combat helicopter, attacked the neighborhood (in the town of Bambari) as they hunted for rebels known as the Seleka.” In addition, an “unknown number of Syrian mercenaries who had been fighting for Russian contractors in Libya were subsequently sent to the CAR.”
[https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/15/africa/central-african-republic-russian-mercenaries-cmd-intl/index.html]
Products of the Red Room? Taskmaster is the analog for the soldier of fortune, an asset that is appreciating in the current neo-medieval global system of overlapping authorities (United Nations, transnational corporations, multilateral institutions, national governments) and multiple loyalties (guilds and professions, ethnicities and races, cults and creeds).
Why neo-medieval? “Over the centuries, a great many States and cities have employed professional soldiers from other lands to provide for their defense or expand their empires.
Mercenaries were used extensively, for example, by the kingdoms of the Warring States period of China 475—221 BCE. They were used, with varying degrees of success, by Carthage in its wars against Rome from 264 to 146 BCE and by innumerable kings and princes around the globe throughout the Middle Ages. The demand that King John banish his mercenary forces from England forms part of the first version of the Magna Carta in 1215 — illustrating that possession by the sovereign of a force owing no allegiance to the country, or its people, has long been regarded as a threat to the rights of subjects. It was during the brutal Thirty Years War (1618-1648) that the use of mercenaries reached one of its most notorious excesses.”
[Kevin Riordan (Chief Judge of the Court Martial of New Zealand), International Convention Against The Recruitment, Use, Financing And Training Of Mercenaries]
“In general, war or no war, medieval mercenaries consistently received wages comparable to those earned by skilled civilian craftsmen. This was not unreasonable because they were in fact skilled military craftsmen. Unlike their civilian counterparts, however, mercenary soldiers could also profit (more or less legally, or at least with minimal fear of any punishment) from the many opportunities to rape, loot, and pillage that came their way in the course of campaigning. This could be a very lucrative calling.”
[Hunt Janin with Ursula Carson. Mercenaries in Medieval and Renaissance Europe. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2013]
Soldiers of fortune. Governments are their biggest employers. Even Taskmaster, at one point in his career, got a full presidential pardon (via S.H.I.E.L.D. Commander Maria Hill) “after he helped test the defenses of a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. The Commission on Superhuman Activities then recruited him to train three clones of accidentally slain 50-State Initiative cadet Michael Van Patrick, AKA MVP, in Spider-Man’s fighting style so they could become Initiative agents as the Scarlet Spiders. Afterwards, Taskmaster was assigned to Camp Hammond as the Fifty State Initiative recruit drill instructor.” [https://www.marvel.com/characters/taskmaster/in-comics]
In the real world, the United States had a Commission On Wartime Contracting In Iraq And Afghanistan whose FINAL REPORT was dissected at the Hearing before the Subcommittee On Readiness And Management Support of the United States Senate Committee On Armed Services, 112th Congress First Session (October 19, 2011) where Senator Kelly Ayotte said: “contingency contracting is the most powerful non-kinetic weapon on the battlefield, especially in a counterinsurgency campaign. We must not haphazardly, obliviously, or hastily contract. Doing so can result in taxpayers’ money ending up in the hands of our enemies.”
[https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-112shrg72564/html/CHRG-112shrg72564.htm]
How about the rest of the world? “There are no Geneva Protocols or laws of war that clearly regulate armed civilians, leaving their status on the battlefield unclear and challenging the definition of mercenary in international law.” [Sean McFate. The Modern Mercenary Private Armies And What They Mean For World Order. NY: Oxford University Press, 2014]
Be that as it may, there is the Montreux Document, “an intergovernmental document intended to promote respect for IHL and human rights law whenever private military and security companies are present in armed conflicts.”
[https://www.icrc.org/en/publication/0996-montreux-document-private-military-and-security-companies]
And according to the Swiss Confederation Federal Department of Foreign Affairs: “The Montreux Document is a reflection of the consensus that international law is also applicable to private military and security companies and that they do not operate in a legal vacuum. It is a practical and realistic contribution to promoting compliance with international humanitarian law and human rights. The document contains answers to legal questions raised by the use of private military and security companies without creating new obligations. It is not legally binding as such.”
[https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/fdfa/foreign-policy/international-law/international-humanitarian-law/private-military-security-companies/montreux-document.html]
There is also the 1989 International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries monitored and advocated by a United Nations Working Group established in July 2005 pursuant to Commission on Human Rights resolution 2005/2.
[https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Mercenaries/WGMercenaries/Pages/WGMercenariesIndex.aspx]
How many of these contract warriors are Filipinos?
