The really frightening thing about privatized War Contractors:
unlike the traditional Military Industrial Complex which can garner huge government weapons contracts in times of peace and thus survive peacetime, Blackwater and their ilk cannot be placed in storage. Without an actual war they face immediate obsolescence, as they cannot pay a huge number of personnel to sit on a shelf. Thus, to insure their very existence, they will (or possibly already have) become a permanent lobby for the waging of wars.

Regarding Jeremy Scahill's book: Not to make too fine a point, but I'm not sure there is anything in that book that should be considered a model of good reporting. My own trade association, the International Peace Operations Association, and myself are mentioned more than a dozen times in the book. At no point did Mr. Scahill interview anyone at IPOA - the largest trade association of companies that provide services in conflict and post-conflict environments. In fact, we were informed that he was working on his book and we called and emailed Mr. Scahill several times over the course of a year, but he never found time for any sort of interview. In fact, he cancelled the meetings we did set up. The book flogs a particular political angle and should be understood in that context, it was never designed to be a balanced research project. - Doug Brooks, IPOA