If I were to punch you in the face and tell you it was for your own protection, would you call that security? This is how Jan Schakowsky would describe the work of Private Military Companies, also known as: Private Security Companies (PSC’s), Private Military Corporations (PMC’s), and Private Military and Security Companies (PMSC’s). Private Military Companies take on the role of the broad National Security Complex, considered a subsection of the larger Military Industrial Complex. PMC’s are paid, private companies that do military operations and are more commonly considered private armies. Simon Mann, an individual who was a Private Military Contractor for 20 years, an employee of PMC’s, gives a perfect quote to describe these companies in an interview with Vice News, “Pay us a load of money and we will win you your war.”
Private Military Companies, though they are paid by governments, work for governments, and can even topple governments, have no national affiliation with them. Robert Young Pelton, author of “License to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror,” states in an interview with Vice News that PMC’s have the willingness and the ability to blur the lines, to switch from defense to offense in a split second. The company’s’ public policies state that the service they provide is security, though history has shown they are much more offensive military units than they are security companies. Since 2005 (information polled April 14th, 2014), Blackwater, one PMC, has had over 200 escalation-of-force incidents where they fired shots first. Blackwater’s fame comes from an incident that happened on September 16th, 2007, in Baghdad, Iraq, when four contractors fired into a civilian crowd and killed 20, injuring 17. (“Gomez del Prado”)
PMC’s activities include torture, arbitrary detention, self advancement (economically and politically), human trafficking, lack of transparency, and lack of accountability. PMC’s actions may be justified depending on the circumstances, and many of these actions are taken under direct contract of the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and the DOD (Department of Defense; United States of America) for reasons that are not known to those who do not have an authorization of a SECRET clearance for the United States of America and other national intelligence and military agencies. The CIA has hired and will continue to hire NOC’s (non-official cover) agents, or agents commonly associated with Jason Bourne, from the Bourne Trilogy. NOC’s are individuals who are given tasks to complete by the CIA and will have no affiliation with the USA, so if something goes wrong, it cannot be officially tied to the USA.
PMC’s are notorious for being effective at what they do,and no other individual knows this better than Erik Prince. Erik Prince is the man who almost single-handedly started the privatization of war when he founded Blackwater. Under the direction of Erik Prince, Blackwater had over 100,000 security operations, and non individual under Blackwater’s protection was killed or injured. The statistics that represent PMC’s are staggering, with the current middle east war the ratio of contractors to US soldiers is 1.47:1. PMC’s employees are well trained, all of them being former soldiers, usually the best and brightest soldiers from their nations. (“Vice News”)
PMC’s will not go away; the money is much too impressive, the annual salary of contractors (contractors who are paid by Private Military Companies to do military operations under the contract of Mobile Security) range from $100,000-$350,000 on average.(“Acadmei.com”) (“DynCorp.com”) The privatization of war is becoming more important to nations as well, specifically the United States. If one of these companies makes a mistake, the blame can be forced upon the individuals who carried out the actions, instead of the nation who hired them. As political tensions rise, so will PMC’s, for transparency is a thing of the past.
~Royce
“Academi” Web dyn-intl.com Accessed: March 26th, 2015 {mobile access; Moscow Snr. High School ACCESS: DENIED} <www.academi.com>
Super Power for Hire: Rise of the Private Military, Vice, July 14th, 2014, Youtube. Febuary 12th, 2015 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LaSD8oFBZE>
“The Privatization of War: Mercenaries, Private Military and Security Companies (PMSC)” Dogma and Geopolitics Accessed: March 4th 2015 Published: April 16th, 2014, Web <https://dogmaandgeopolitics.wordpress.com/2014/04/16/the-privatization-of-war-mercenaries-private-military-and-security-companies-pmsc/>
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