Can't win with 'em, can't go to war without 'em
Subtitle: private military contractors and counterinsurgency
By: P. W. Singer
Contributors: Brookings Institution
Series: Policy paper -- no. 4; Policy paper (Brookings Institution. Foreign Policy) -- no. 4.
Publisher: Brookings Institution
Published: 2007
Place of publication: Washington, D.C
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource] :
Number of pages: 21
Subjects: Private security services; Mercenary troops; Defense contracts; Counterinsurgency; Relations; Blackwater USA
Other titles: Private military contractors and counterinsurgency
Description: "The recent incident involving Blackwater contractors in Iraq has brought to light a series of questions surrounding the legal status, oversight, management, and accountability of the private military force in Iraq. This for-hire force numbers more than 160,000, more than the number of uniformed military personnel in Iraq, and it is a good thing that attention is finally being paid to the consequences of our outsourcing critical tasks to private firms.   An underlying question, though, is largely being ignored, whether it made sense to have civilians in this role in the first place.  Regardless of whether the Blackwater contractors were right or wrong in the recent shootings, or even whether there is proper jurisdiction to ensure their accountability or not, there is a crucial problem.  The use of private military contractors appears to have harmed, rather than helped the counterinsurgency efforts of the U.S. mission in Iraq.  Even worse, it has created a dependency syndrome on the private marketplace that merely creates critical vulnerabilities, but shows all the signs of the last downward spirals of an addiction.  If we judge by what has hapened in Iraq, when it comes to private military contractors and counterinsurgency, the U.S. has locked itself into a vicious cycle.  It can't win with them, but can't go to war without them" -- iii
Notes: "September 2007."

At head of title: Foreign Policy at Brookings

Title taken from PDF title screen (viewed October 2, 2007).

Includes bibliographical references

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.