Privateering In Iraq

It seems that as well as defending US administrative facilties, Blackwater is establishing its own private mercenary base in Iraq. Looks like the fun never ends – Blackwater get live Iraqis for target practice, and Al Qaida likewise get live Americans to target. It’s a match made in heaven!

An attack by hundreds of Iraqi militia members on the U.S. government’s headquarters in Najaf on Sunday was repulsed not by the U.S. military, but by eight commandos from a private security firm … Before U.S. reinforcements could arrive, the firm, Blackwater Security Consulting, sent in its own helicopters amid an intense firefight to resupply its commandos with ammunition and to ferry out a wounded Marine … Thousands of armed private security contractors are operating in Iraq in a wide variety of missions and exchanging fire with Iraqis every day … Blackwater has applied to occupy a former MIG air base near Baghdad as a counterterrorism training facility for Iraqi forces.

Earlier here.