Book description
They're ex-special forces, CIA spooks or Foreign Legionnaires.
They're fighting insurgents in Baghdad and patrolling government
buildings in Afghanistan. And now they're spying on environmental
protestors and policing the 2012 Olympics. They are above the law and
independent from government. They are the privatised armies of
mercenaries. Meet the private security contractors - a
stock-market-listed corporate version of the mercenary. These private
soldiers operate their million-dollar contracts from executive
boardrooms in London, Washington, Paris and Oslo. With democracies
unwilling to see their children die for strategic reasons in foreign
lands, these corporate soldiers are part of the last great outsourcing
- the privatisation of war. 'With an estimated 48,000 private security
contractors at work in Iraq alone, corporate warfare is one of the
fastest growing industries in the world. Journalist Armstrong's
excellent book looks into how these companies operate.' GQ
'Frightening . . . He has collected some chilling anecdotes about the
corners cut by companies who are only interested in profit.' Metro
Stephen Armstrong is a freelance journalist who writes for the
Sunday Times, the Guardian, New Statesman, GQ and Esquire as well as
presenting the occasional documentary on Radio 4. This is his second book.
