Coming to a city near you?
Produced by the US magazine The Nation.
No one knows for sure, but it's believed that as much as 40% of the
military budget goes to private contractors including private
armies.
There are thousands of private mercenaries operating on behalf of
the US in Iraq and elsewhere around the world. Nearly 1,000 have
been killed in Iraq alone, but their casualties are not counted. Nor
has Congress been able to discover exactly how many mercenaries the
US employs there.
One of these firms, Blackwater USA, a big supporter of George Bush,
is now deploying in the US. They were present in New Orleans after
the levee collapses.