Mercenary Companies (pun intended)

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forces no longer can handle.

It is a hugely competitive, multibillion-dollar industry, with clients
ranging from governments and blue-chip corporations to warlords, drug
cartels and terrorist groups.

In Iraq, at least 20,000 contractors - local and foreign - are
guarding coalition bases, protecting U.S. officials, training Iraqi
security forces and interrogating detainees. They also protect
businessmen, journalists and humanitarian workers, among others.

Being held to standards

Doug Brooks, head of a U.S.-based association of military contractors, says reports of industry abuse are exaggerated.

"In general, companies are using people who are middle-aged
ex-military, so they know what they are doing, and they don't make as
many mistakes" as the armed forces, he said.

The companies say they recognize the need for regulation in a dangerous industry.

"We would prefer a high level of professionalism across the
board. It makes it easier and safer for everybody," said Greg Lagana,
spokesman for U.S.-based DynCorp International.

Many top firms have joined associations such as Brooks'
International Peace Operations Association, which impose stringent
human rights standards on their members.

Firms say they also are subject to volumes of legislation in
the countries where they are based, where they recruit and where they
operate.

Their employees are bound by international conventions on war
crimes, just like their uniformed counterparts. Those working for the
U.S. government also can be prosecuted in a U.S. criminal court for
offenses committed abroad.

And there is the pressure of the marketplace: "Failure in this
industry comes soonest to those who openly violate sound business
principles and disregard the moral, ethical and legal high ground,"
said Chris Taylor, Blackwater USA's vice president for strategic
initiatives.

Abuses happen nonetheless.

In Iraq, civilians mistaken for car bombers have been killed,
and gunfire has been exchanged between contractors and Iraqi security
forces.

Tighter rules weighed

P.W. Singer, an expert on private military companies at the
Brookings Institution in Washington, said human rights violations are
rarely prosecuted outside the country in which they happened because of the logistic difficulties.

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