Making a killing: how private armies became a $120bn global industry

[bemildred]

Source: Independent.UK

In Nigeria, corporate commandos exchange fire with local rebels attacking an oil platform. In Afghanistan, private bodyguards help to foil yet another assassination attempt on President Hamid Karzai. In Colombia, a contracted pilot comes under fire from guerrillas while spraying coca fields with pesticides. On the border between Iraq and Iran, privately owned Apache helicopters deliver US special forces to a covert operation.

This is a snapshot of a working day in the burgeoning world of private military companies, arguably the fastest-growing industry in the global economy. The sector is now worth up to $120bn annually with operations in at least 50 countries, according to Peter Singer, a security analyst with the Brookings Institution in Washington.

"The rate of growth in the security industry has been phenomenal," says Deborah Avant, a professor of political science at UCLA. The single largest spur to this boom is the conflict in Iraq.

The workings of this industry have come under intense scrutiny this week in the angry aftermath of the killing of Iraqi civilians by the US-owned Blackwater corporation in Baghdad. The Iraqi government has demanded the North Carolina-based company is withdrawn. But with Blackwater responsible for the protection of hundreds of senior US and Iraqi officials, from the US ambassador to visiting congressional delegations, there is certainty in diplomatic and military circles that this will not happen.

Read more: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2984818.ece

[dbt]

1. Um, CORPORATIONS?

Just a wild guess...

[stillcool]

2. Here's a nice little list..

from sourcewatch if anyone is interested
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Private_Military_Corporations/list_of_PMCs
and another from globalsecurity
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/pmc-list.htm

[Baby Snooks]

3. Eisenhower's Warning

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."

http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/indust.html

[Sam Ervin jret]

4. Does anyone remember if the S.S. got started this way? No? Well ,FREE MARKET!

Is anyone paying attention yet?

[Thothmes]

5. private armies

This has been developing for a long time. In the early 90s, the U.S. embassy in Bahrain, in addition to U.S. Marines, was guarded by a British contractor that employed retired Gurkha's from the British army. This outfit had several contracts to provide security services in the region.

[Xenotime]

6. I guess pay is good if you are a gun nut..

That's what you get when you have * in office.

[tanyev]

7. Mission Accomplished.