The PMF business:-

In many ways it mirrors broader trends in the world economy as countries switch from manufacturing to services and outsource functions once thought to be the preserve of the state.

PMF stands for Private Military Firms, a USD 120 billion (and growing) global industry.

“Organised as business entities and structured along corporate lines, they mark the corporate evolution of the mercenary trade”

“The rate of growth in the security industry has been phenomenal,” says Deborah Avant, a professor of political science at UCLA. The single largest spur to this boom is the conflict in Iraq.

None of the estimated 48,000 private military operatives in Iraq has been convicted of a crime and no one knows how many Iraqis have been killed by private military forces, because the US does not keep records.

A high-ranking US military commander in Iraq said: “These guys run loose in this country and do stupid stuff. There’s no authority over them, so you can’t come down on them hard when they escalate force. They shoot people.”

Source: The Independent 21 September 2007

And here’s a postscript to this post:-
U.S. Resumes Blackwater Convoys in Iraq

Sudan, watch out!