meehawl

all that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned

Janissaries Adrift

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Under assault by insurgents and unable to rely on U.S. and coalition troops for intelligence or help under duress, private security firms in Iraq have begun to band together in the past 48 hours, organizing what may effectively be the largest private army in the world, with its own rescue teams and pooled, sensitive intelligence … There are about 20,000 private security contractors in Iraq now, including Americans, Iraqis and other foreigners. That number is expected to grow to 30,000 in the near future when the U.S. troop presence is drawn down after the June 30 handover to Iraqi authorities. The presence of so many armed security contractors in a hot combat zone is unprecedented in U.S. history … “Each private firm amounts to an individual battalion,” said one U.S. government official familiar with the developments. “Now they are all coming together to build the largest security organization in the world.”

Earlier here.

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