New documentary on mercenaries in Iraq: "Shadow Company"

[EarlG]

THE RULES OF WAR HAVE CHANGED.

This year thousands of private soldiers will be deployed in conflicts worldwide. These individuals, known as private security contractors, are changing the face of modern warfare. But to those at home, their world and influence remains a mystery.

Who are these security contractors?
What do they do?
Why do they do it?

Shadow Company, by Nick Bicanic and Jason Bourque, is the groundbreaking feature-length documentary that reveals the origins and destinations of these modern-day mercenaries.

http://www.shadowcompanythemovie.com

I got an email about this today, and watched the trailer. It looks really interesting. Apparently Sen. Kennedy recently organized a screening of the movie for members of Congress. It's coming out next week.

[Recursion]

1. plus ca change...

...plus c'est la meme chose.

They were called condottieri in Renaissance Italy. Machiavelli said they are an unmistakable sign of an overstretched nation.

[TahitiNut]

2. Blackwater Security is headed by the brother of Betsy (Prince) DeVos

... the wife of Dick DeVos, the GOP's candidate for Governor of Michigan. These are necrocapitalists/necroconservatives: privateers who profit from the labor, suffering, and death of human beings worldwide. They inbreed (e.g. Bush and Walker families, DeVos and Prince families, etc.) and are zealous proponents of eradicating estate taxes.

[Joanne98]

5. You have such good information.

I always read your posts.

[TahitiNut]

10. Thanks .. but much I get either from DU or as a result of research I do ..

... when motivated by discussions on DU. We all stand on each other's shoulders here ... if we're doing it right.

[Little Star]

3. They don't sound much different than Hezbollah. How

come we can have a private army in the US?

[QuettaKid]

6. GREAT article on BLACKWATER here.

""GARY JACKSON, 49, Blackwater’s president, has been with the company almost from the beginning. Like Prince, he is a former SEAL, having retired as a warrant officer after 23 years in the Navy.

He is the senior executive at Blackwater’s 7,000-acre headquarters and training compound in Moyock.

Jackson makes no secret of his political leanings. As editor of Blackwater’s weekly electronic newsletter, he posted this headline at the top of the edition after the November 2004 presidential election: BUSH WINS; FOUR MORE YEARS!! HOOYAH!""






http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=108106&ran=202193

[SteppingRazor]

4. I don't know his name, but that moustached interviewer in the trailer...

is freaking unbelievable. The guy's got a death wish or something. Last I saw of him, he had been WILLINGLY kidnapped by FARC in Colombia and spent several weeks as their prisoner, with them debating on whether or not to kill him and the cameraman, but eventually letting them both go. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Dude's always getting shot at in one place or another.

So ... should be a fun documentary!

[OneBlueSky]

7. one of the scarier trends in the recent "evolution" of humankind . . . n/t

.

[NNN0LHI]

8. I wonder if these guys would cut someones head off for the right money?

Rhetorical question.

Don

[TahitiNut]

9. Here's a rhetorical photo ..