Military Contracting: Our New Era of Corporate Mercenaries

[unhappycamper]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/01/24-3



Private military contracting has ballooned into an industry worth more than $100bn a year.

Military Contracting: Our New Era of Corporate Mercenaries
by Arjun Sethi
Published on Thursday, January 24, 2013 by The Guardian/UK

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The privatization of conflict is no longer a trend. It's the norm.

The United States relied so heavily on contractors during the recent Iraq war that no one knows with certainty how many were on the ground. In late 2010, the United Arab Emirates, fearful that the Arab uprisings might spread to the Gulf, paid Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater Worldwide, $529m to create an elite force to safeguard the emirate. And today, Russia is openly considering forming a cadre of private military contractors to further its interests abroad.

Yet, the laws that govern this industry tell a different story. Instead of a transnational system with meaningful collaboration, we have a patchwork of state laws that allow companies to forum-shop and circumvent regulations. Contractors can likewise relocate, as they typically rent the equipment necessary to complete their contracts; their primary source of capital is human, not physical.

In addition to closing loopholes, states must monitor contractors, and prosecute them when they commit crimes. To this day, not a single contractor has been successfully prosecuted for its role in the Abu Ghraib prison atrocities or the Nisour Square massacre, in which 17 Iraqi civilians were killed.



on edit to add the report on Wartime Contracting: http://cybercemetery.unt.edu/archive/cwc/20110929231911/http://www.wartimecontracting.gov/index.php