Privatization of Violence

I am never enthusiastic to support any kind of violence however I do believe that in a democratic society it is the government, accountable to the people, who should hold a monopoly on over its use, not a private for-profit company like Blackwater, whose name Stephen Colbert pointed out is "cartoonishly evil". Check out their logo:Wow, if that doesn't scream "amoral greedy lawless mercenaries who do the governments dirty work" then I don't know what does.

These guys creep me out. What's even more scary is the implications. The one thing governments, for all times, have had a monopoly over, the thing that might even define them as governments, is the ability to legally enact violence, either on its own citizens or another state. Like so many other government "services" it is being privatized and outsourced, to be held accountable not by citizens but by shareholders.

Here is the latest story on Blackwater from the New York Times:

Another Probe Involving Blackwater

A report on Blackwater by The Nation's Jeremy Scahill