Matters Blackwater (Merged thread)

[sgmgrumpy]

Information on a Radio Talk Show conducted as well as a Newspaper reporters 6 part series on Blackwater.

The radio interview I thought was very informative on laws governing use of PMCs.

Their business is supplying security in an unsecure world. Training modern day mercenaries means big profit for private military companies and also helps ease the strain of an over-taxed military. But not everyone thinks this new approach is the best way to wage war. We'll talk about it on today's HearSay with Virginian-Pilot Reporter Bill Sizemore. [and IPOA's Doug Brooks . . .]

Radio Talk Show on PMCs
http://wmstreaming.whro.org/hearsay/08032006.wma

Another great investigative 6 Part Series on Blackwater

NOTE: You may need to REFRESH BROWSER AFTER LINKING TO GET THE ARTICLES.

Blackwater: Inside America's Private Army
The Virginian-Pilot
© July 23, 2006

Enter a world where the military has become a business – where citizen soldiers work for a private company whose currency comes from conflict. It’s a place some salute and others fear. And it’s right in our backyard.

PART 1
A New Breed of Warriors
These men are not soldiers, at least not anymore. All have military experience, but in order to become private security contractors, they must pass an eight-week, $20,000 course.

PART 2
Profitable Patriotism
After the terrorist attack on the destroyer Cole, Blackwater USA found its future: providing security in an insecure world. Since, the Moyock, N.C., company has rocketed to the big time.


PART 3
On the Front Lines
The growing presence of private security contractors on the battlefield in Iraq is uncharted territory, spawning questions about conflicting objectives, poor coordination and lack of accountability.


PART 4
When Things Go Wrong
The lynching of four Blackwater USA contractors in Iraq in 2004 has had profound consequences on two fronts: in the course of the war, and with families back home.


PART 5
On American Soil
Hurricane Katrina opened the door to a flood of domestic work for Blackwater USA. In New Orleans, the company protects FEMA's staff - at a cost of about $243,000 a day.


PART 6
New Horizons
Security contractor Blackwater USA, after long preferring the shadows, has taken a high-visibility U-turn - including its own skydiving team - to get out its story and drum up business.

[Jedburgh]

From the Centro Militare di Studi Strategici (CeMiSS), Rome, Italy:

Eroding State Authority? Private Military Companies and the Legitimate Use of Force

This study probes the question of how the rise and development of private military companies (PMCs) is affecting the authority of Western states to define and regulate the use of force. It is an inquiry into the extent to which private military companies are merely “tools” in the hands of the state, as often assumed. It is an inquiry into the extent to which the delegation of tasks to private actors also entails a privatisation of authority. It is an attempt to think about a link whose existence is often denied. In a typical vein one observer writes:

...most would argue that the power to authorise and delegate the use of military force should remain with states, preferably at the level of the UN Security Council. But once agreed, exactly what or who is deployed is less important – the issue then is to find the most effective and least costly alternative... (Shearer 2001: 30).

This report asks whether cost effectiveness is really the issue at stake and whether who is deployed is of limited importance. The political intuition it departs from is that who “is deployed” matters a great deal. It is absolutely essential for governments, for armed forces and for citizens not only to ask “what is most effective and least costly” alternative. They also need to ask what consequences different alternatives have for the authority over the use of force (and more specifically the state monopoly on the legitimate use of force). The aim of this study is first and foremost to spell out the lines along which such questions have to be asked and discussed...