Marlin Dick, who grew up in Fowler and is now living in Lebanon, is an occasional columnist for The Bee's op/ed page. In his latest commentary, Dick argues that we shouldn't be surprised when a largely privatized war leads to waste and corruption.

He writes of a "deadly triangle" that consists of "A rise in defense spending, a bigger share of the pie for private firms, and astounding levels of waste and mismanagement -- 'privatization' is supposed to replace the bad old public sector, but in the Bush era, the private sector has become synonymous with bloated inefficiency."