Private Military Contractors: Deplore or Deploy? – Lessons from the ‘Blackwater Scandal’ in Iraq

C. ten Dam,  ‘Private Military Contractors: Deplore or Deploy? – Lessons from the ‘Blackwater Scandal’ in Iraq’ Forum of EthnoGeoPolitics Vol.1 No.2, Autumn 2013, pp.20-47 (incl. Critical Responses and authors’ reaction).

The so-called ‘Blackwater scandal’ – a reference to the seventeen Iraqi civilians killed
on Nisour Square by security guards of the private military company (PMC) Blackwater in
September 2007 – puts into question the proposition that private military contractors or
‘mercenaries’ could be relied upon to act effectively and responsibly in peacekeeping and other
international operations. Arguably, Blackwater’s frequently observed callousness, if typical of
other Private Military Companies (PMCs), gravely undermines this proposition. After closely
analysing the Nisour Square incident and the Blackwater company in a wider context of
revealed patterns of violence by the personnel of multiple PMCs, the article concludes that the
use of ‘mercenaries’ is in principle still possible, doable and defensible – after the necessary
reforms and improvements have been made. Yet it remains doubtful whether a sufficient number of PMCs and their personnel are or will become (self-)disciplined, well-trained and trustworthy enough for large, complex and dangerous operations. One certainly should strengthen the (pre) conditions for deploying these ‘contractors’ in both international military missions which involve combat duties and operations, and international civilian missions with a military component focused on (body)guard and sentry duties only.