"Soldiers of Fortune" in the service of the United States
In foreign media reports, information about the participation of employees of private military companies (PMC - Private Military Companies) in the military operations of NATO countries is becoming increasingly common. If we analyze the military conflicts with the participation of the armed forces of the bloc, it will become clear that the West assigns an increasing role to contract contractors (a modern analogue of the “soldiers of fortune”) when planning foreign military campaigns.
... on the example of "Blackwater".
It cannot be said that the attraction of the “soldier of fortune” is a new thing, because story hirelings has more than one thousand years. For a long time they were considered outlaws and in the eyes of society looked like a rabble, whose incompetence was inferior only to their bloodthirstiness.
In 1997, the top military leadership of the United States made the unanimous decision to actively use private military companies in the coming decades when establishing "democracy" abroad.
In the same year, the largest and most scandalously famous (both in the US and abroad) private military company "Blackwather" was founded, which became the prototype for many negative characters of American cinema and the gaming industry. The company was created by a former US Naval Special Forces (SEAL) officer Eric Prince and an applied shooting trainer Al Clark as a security company that will support and train military and law enforcement operations.
In 2002, Blackwater Security Consulting (BSC) was established, the company's employees participated in the war in Afghanistan.
Immediately after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003, "Blackwater" appeared in Iraq as one of the 60 security companies, and began training new Iraqi forces and police, as well as supporting coalition forces.
Formally, being civilians, representatives of a private security firm, as a rule, perform the most “dirty” work. Units of the regular American army cover up and provide for their actions. In the case of illegal actions on the territory of another country, these persons are protected from Iraqi justice and at the same time may be under jurisdiction in the United States. Mercenaries are not part of the American army, so the command is not responsible for their actions.
As for the irrecoverable losses among the "contractants", their exact number is carefully hidden. For example, in Iraq and Afghanistan in official reports of casualties there is practically no mention of killed and wounded mercenaries, since formally they are not regular military personnel. Therefore, the Pentagon and the US administration have the ability to manipulate data in order to hide the true state of affairs in a particular conflict zone and not create the basis for discontent in American society.
Inevitable costs?
Despite all the "visible benefits", the command of the coalition forces in Iraq is increasingly beginning to face a problem of a non-material and financial nature. Many of the "contractants" had weak professional military training, did not observe discipline and accepted rules of conduct, sabotaging the execution of orders of their commanders and superiors, which, in turn, leads to a number of scandals widely commented by many foreign media. But it seems that the US military leadership sees this as the inevitable costs of the introduction of innovations in the conduct of the war.
For example, on September 12, 16, employees of Blackwater, guarding the US State Department’s diplomatic convoy, organized a shootout in the central square of Baghdad, which ended with the death of seventeen and the wound of eighteen Iraqi civilians (among the victims were children). The Iraqi government initiated the Blackwater mercenary withdrawal procedure, but the contract was still renewed. According to the results of the investigations, it turned out that employees of the company from 2007 of the year to 2005 of the year participated in the 2007 shootouts and in 195% of cases they opened fire first.
Blackwater has also been repeatedly suspected of smuggling weapons. A loud scandal involving a security company in March 2010 of the year was an investigation into the disappearance from the American warehouses in Afghanistan of more than 500 Kalashnikov assault rifles and other weapons. In September 2010, five members of the leadership were charged with illegal arms trafficking. Officials falsified documents and thus hid their gift to King Abdullah II of Jordan in the form of 22 weapons, including 17 AK assault rifles captured during the 2008 raid.
Many believe that this is why the company had to change its name several times in 2009 to "Xe Services LLC" and in January 2010 to "Academi". The company's management claims that such changes are not related to the shooting of a demonstration in Baghdad and other scandalous incidents involving company employees, and decisions to change the name and rebranding were made much earlier.
Conclusions are not made?
In December, 2012 of the year in the Pakistani newspaper Ummat reported that Academi plans to expand its presence in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the international military contingent led by the US in 2014 to protect American interests. The article says that a private military corporation has already spent 22 million dollars for this and will receive additional funding in 2015. It should be noted that the company won on a non-alternative basis a contract for placing contractants in Camp Integrity until May 2015, in the total number of 7 000 fighters.
Thus, private military companies are now becoming an influential force. Contractors are undoubtedly one of the main official tools of the United States to establish "justice and democracy" during armed conflicts. And the killing of civilians is just the "inevitable costs" on the way to the goal.
... on the example of "Blackwater".
It cannot be said that the attraction of the “soldier of fortune” is a new thing, because story hirelings has more than one thousand years. For a long time they were considered outlaws and in the eyes of society looked like a rabble, whose incompetence was inferior only to their bloodthirstiness.
In 1997, the top military leadership of the United States made the unanimous decision to actively use private military companies in the coming decades when establishing "democracy" abroad.
In the same year, the largest and most scandalously famous (both in the US and abroad) private military company "Blackwather" was founded, which became the prototype for many negative characters of American cinema and the gaming industry. The company was created by a former US Naval Special Forces (SEAL) officer Eric Prince and an applied shooting trainer Al Clark as a security company that will support and train military and law enforcement operations.
In 2002, Blackwater Security Consulting (BSC) was established, the company's employees participated in the war in Afghanistan.
Immediately after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003, "Blackwater" appeared in Iraq as one of the 60 security companies, and began training new Iraqi forces and police, as well as supporting coalition forces.
Formally, being civilians, representatives of a private security firm, as a rule, perform the most “dirty” work. Units of the regular American army cover up and provide for their actions. In the case of illegal actions on the territory of another country, these persons are protected from Iraqi justice and at the same time may be under jurisdiction in the United States. Mercenaries are not part of the American army, so the command is not responsible for their actions.
As for the irrecoverable losses among the "contractants", their exact number is carefully hidden. For example, in Iraq and Afghanistan in official reports of casualties there is practically no mention of killed and wounded mercenaries, since formally they are not regular military personnel. Therefore, the Pentagon and the US administration have the ability to manipulate data in order to hide the true state of affairs in a particular conflict zone and not create the basis for discontent in American society.
Inevitable costs?
Despite all the "visible benefits", the command of the coalition forces in Iraq is increasingly beginning to face a problem of a non-material and financial nature. Many of the "contractants" had weak professional military training, did not observe discipline and accepted rules of conduct, sabotaging the execution of orders of their commanders and superiors, which, in turn, leads to a number of scandals widely commented by many foreign media. But it seems that the US military leadership sees this as the inevitable costs of the introduction of innovations in the conduct of the war.
For example, on September 12, 16, employees of Blackwater, guarding the US State Department’s diplomatic convoy, organized a shootout in the central square of Baghdad, which ended with the death of seventeen and the wound of eighteen Iraqi civilians (among the victims were children). The Iraqi government initiated the Blackwater mercenary withdrawal procedure, but the contract was still renewed. According to the results of the investigations, it turned out that employees of the company from 2007 of the year to 2005 of the year participated in the 2007 shootouts and in 195% of cases they opened fire first.
Blackwater has also been repeatedly suspected of smuggling weapons. A loud scandal involving a security company in March 2010 of the year was an investigation into the disappearance from the American warehouses in Afghanistan of more than 500 Kalashnikov assault rifles and other weapons. In September 2010, five members of the leadership were charged with illegal arms trafficking. Officials falsified documents and thus hid their gift to King Abdullah II of Jordan in the form of 22 weapons, including 17 AK assault rifles captured during the 2008 raid.
Many believe that this is why the company had to change its name several times in 2009 to "Xe Services LLC" and in January 2010 to "Academi". The company's management claims that such changes are not related to the shooting of a demonstration in Baghdad and other scandalous incidents involving company employees, and decisions to change the name and rebranding were made much earlier.
Conclusions are not made?
In December, 2012 of the year in the Pakistani newspaper Ummat reported that Academi plans to expand its presence in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the international military contingent led by the US in 2014 to protect American interests. The article says that a private military corporation has already spent 22 million dollars for this and will receive additional funding in 2015. It should be noted that the company won on a non-alternative basis a contract for placing contractants in Camp Integrity until May 2015, in the total number of 7 000 fighters.
Thus, private military companies are now becoming an influential force. Contractors are undoubtedly one of the main official tools of the United States to establish "justice and democracy" during armed conflicts. And the killing of civilians is just the "inevitable costs" on the way to the goal.
Information