Review of Shadow Company (2006) by Walter M — 17 Mar 2011

"Shadow Company" is an eye-opening documentary about the history and current state of military contractors(or mercenaries, if you like) with a special emphasis on the Iraq War. For a start, this is nothing new which is how countries did business until the rise of the nation state in the 19th century, when soldiers were started to be rewarded with a sense of duty and patriotism more than money. After the white minority government was removed in Rhodesia, the white soldiers went to South Africa. And they were again out of work with the fall of Apartheid, setting up their own company, Executive Outcomes, in response.

According to "Shadow Company," a lot of military contactors act as bodyguards and security personnel in potentially hostile situations.(For this reason, one commentator deems them as evil, since they potentially keep away things from people who might badly need them.) Their stock price, unlike most other businesses, went through the roof after 9/11 and they do a steady business in Iraq, even replacing some departing coalition troops, where an "accountability gap" also exists.(Contractors were killed in Fallujah because the insurgents thought they were CIA.) As some contractors testify, cowboy tactics are frowned upon, as training in the rules of engagement are provided, especially when dealing with the military. And mercenaries overthrowing third world governments is total fantasy, as the situation in Equatorial Guinea proved once and for all.