As many people may (or may not know), there is a very large market in "personal protection"--essentially private armies of ex-special forces soldiers that are hired as bodyguards by people in dangerous areas--Iraq, for instance. The US army contracts with many of them, saying it is cheaper and more practical to use them for protection details, leaving soldiers to the combat. They also provide security assesments, essentially doing for physical security what white-hat hackers do for computer security: they try to infiltrate a building, attacking it just as someone trying to, for example, kidnap or kill one of the employees.
As you also may (or, again, may not) know, the four men killed in Fallujah were private contractors, with a company called Blackwater. They were contracted to guard a food convoy, but there are Blackwater employees in many other areas--Paul Bremer's bodyguards are all Blackwater employees.
What do yall think about this? I have a bit of a personal connection to this. One of my fraternity brothers, who was in the SEALs for 8 years, is working for Blackwater this summer. His preference is to work in Afghanistan, but he could be assigned to Iraq. Part of me thinks that it is a bad idea that there are these private armies with the power to act like real armies--these guys tote M4s and wear body armor, just like any other soldier. Another part of me sees that there is a pretty big need for this type of service, and it does pay well--my friend will be making almost $900 a day. Im not sure where I stand.
Below is a CNN link talking a little more about the whole thing:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/...aq.contractor/