A lot has been said in recent days about the private security firms like Blackwater USA that are roaming Iraq, mainly protecting foreign contractors.

Some commentators have called them mercenaries, which I don't think is quite fair. They aren't in Iraq to achieve a military objective -- their goals are generally defensive. Still, the statement on Blackwater's website (see link above) shows that the lines are blurring. The fact that Paul Bremer has a private security detail makes the lines even blurrier.

One final note -- these guys make $100,000-$200,000 a year. Let's say they average out at $150K. There are approximatey 20,000 of them in Iraq right now. Let's also assume that overhead (guns and other equipment, transportation) is equivalent to salaries, which is an extremely low estimate. That means that over the course of a year, Six billion dollars are being spent on private security guys (and it might be a lot more). That is a huge sum of money, and it indicates that the companies hiring the security firms must have a lot more than that at stake.