# Let's say a US billionaire wanted to go after ISIS. How much military horsepower could he wield? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 26, 2015, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-a-us-billionaire-wanted-to-go-after-isis-how-much-military-horsepower-could-he-wield/718544 "2015-04-26T01:06:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-a-us-billionaire-wanted-to-go-after-isis-how-much-military-horsepower-could-he-wield/718544/21 "2015-04-28T02:12:09Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I was going to suggest the Dogs of War. Book not movie. I don’t bother with his movies. No hard information. > [@](#): > > Forsyth basically wrote a how to book although it is outdated now. Still a lot of good info. What I love about his books is reaching the point where I shout, “It could work!” I don’t think 30 gigabux is necessarily chickenfeed. They’ve gotten this far with less. So plan well. Toss some bribes here and there. Keep costs down by using last-war’s-model equipment–they aren’t armed any better than that. Bring the local anti-ISIS folks on-board, with your guys acting as advisors. Keep your name distant and make it look like a local response; plausible deniability is all the US government really needs from you. It could work. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2015, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-a-us-billionaire-wanted-to-go-after-isis-how-much-military-horsepower-could-he-wield/718544/22 "2015-04-29T22:24:43Z")
> [@astro](#): > > The US was offering 25 -50 million for Bin Laden’s location and very substantial amounts for his lieutenants for years and no one in country made a peep. Isn’t there always the factor that nobody will really receive the reward? I don’t think anybody received anything for OBL, did they? Weren’t the Afghans suspicious of just this? Could be wrong, tho. ---
**Author:** ![Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fool_in_the_Rain)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-a-us-billionaire-wanted-to-go-after-isis-how-much-military-horsepower-could-he-wield/718544/23 "2015-04-30T18:25:42Z")
Can be done on the cheap. Send a bunch of mercanaries into the jungles of Thailand, looking for a missing group of Christian aid workers and hire a boatman to take you downriver… They only took a few days to clean up the neighborhood from there, and didn’t look like it cost all that much. Hire out that group after that. it was a documntary I think…:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-a-us-billionaire-wanted-to-go-after-isis-how-much-military-horsepower-could-he-wield/718544/24 "2015-05-01T12:02:00Z")
On a grislier tack…how much did it cost the Aum Shinrikyo cult to [build _their_ chemical/biological weapon program](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aum_Shinrikyo#Incidents_before_1995)? I mean, more people in power are going to be on the lookout for well-funded private maniacs trying to set up that kind of thing these days, and there are probably ethical issues involved, but, hey, if the billionaire _really_ hated ISIS, and as long as we’re just wargaming…in for the penny, in for the pound, by hook or by crook, eh what? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-a-us-billionaire-wanted-to-go-after-isis-how-much-military-horsepower-could-he-wield/718544/25 "2015-05-01T14:38:11Z")
> [@astro](#): > > The US was offering 25 -50 million for Bin Laden’s location and very substantial amounts for his lieutenants for years and no one in country made a peep. In fact, the US ended up creating a market for people snatching up innocents and turning them in to the US for the bounty. [http://www.detainedbyus.org/the-lucrative-bounty-program/](http://www.detainedbyus.org/the-lucrative-bounty-program/) ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-a-us-billionaire-wanted-to-go-after-isis-how-much-military-horsepower-could-he-wield/718544/26 "2015-05-01T19:05:40Z")
What are the legal barrier for hiring Academi or other mercenary companies? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-a-us-billionaire-wanted-to-go-after-isis-how-much-military-horsepower-could-he-wield/718544/27 "2015-05-01T19:09:51Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > What are the legal barrier for hiring Academi or other mercenary companies? Illegal in the USA, but there’s loopholes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-a-us-billionaire-wanted-to-go-after-isis-how-much-military-horsepower-could-he-wield/718544.md?page=1)