Some have claimed that `War is too important to be
left to the generals,` but P. W. Singer asks `What about
the business executives?` Breaking out of the
guns-for-hire mold of traditional mercenaries,
corporations now sell skills and services that until
recently only state militaries possessed. Their products
range from trained commando teams to strategic advice
from generals. This new `Privatized Military Industry`
encompasses hundreds of companies, thousands of
employees, and billions of dollars in revenue. Whether
as proxies or suppliers, such firms have participated in
wars in Africa, Asia, the Balkans, and Latin America.
More recently, they have become a key element in U.S.
military operations. Private corporations working for
profit now sway the course of national and international
conflict, but the consequences have been little
explored.In Corporate Warriors, Singer provides the
first account of the military services industry and its
broader implications. Corporate Warriors includes a
description of how the business works, as well as
portraits of each of the basic types of companies:
military providers that offer troops for tactical
operations; military consultants that supply expert
advice and training; and military support companies that
sell logistics, intelligence, and engineering.This
updated edition of Singer's already classic account of
the military services industry and its broader
implications describes the continuing importance of that
industry in the Iraq War. This conflict has amply borne
out Singer's argument that the privatization of warfare
allows startling new capabilities and efficiencies in
the ways that war is carried out. At the same time,
however, Singer finds that the introduction of the
profit motive onto the battlefield raises troubling
questions-for democracy, for ethics, for management, for
human rights, and for national security. |
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