The Geopolitical Foundations of Blackwater
October 11, 2007
This week in the Special Outside the Box, good friend George Friedman addresses the lax governance and control of Blackwater, a private security firm recently embroiled in the accusation of firing upon Iraqi civilians without provocation. George shows us that private security contractors' working beside the military is not a recent mode of operation but rather one that has long been employed by the US military.
Furthermore, that private security firms serve a necessary role in US military operations and will continue to be a tool utilized in military operations throughout the world. Elsewhere, Stratfor notes that it is the Diplomatic Security Service that is usually responsible for the protection of diplomats. But there are only 1,400 of the officers world wide. You need more than that just for Iraq. We simply do not have the manpower to protect all the diplomats in Iraq and elsewhere without private contractors. It is just a fact of life. But as George notes, they are not in the chain of command. Resolving this is very important, as you will read.
Stratfor continues to provide insightful and pertinent research on economic and geopolitical events and their respective ramifications. I depend on Stratfor to keep me abreast of such events and strongly recommend it to all wanting knowledgeable, reputable, analytical commentary discerning through the complexity of world affairs. Strafor continues to generously provide significant savings to readers of Outside the Box, for further information please click here.
John Mauldin, Editor
Outside the Box
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The Geopolitical Foundations of Blackwater
For the past three weeks, Blackwater, a private security firm under contract to the U.S. State Department, has been under intense scrutiny over its operations in Iraq. The Blackwater controversy has highlighted the use of civilians for what appears to be combat or near-combat missions in Iraq. Moreover, it has raised two important questions: Who controls these private forces and to whom are they accountable?…