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Comment by patrec | Hacker News Reader

I was completely unaware that there is a long established market for mercenaries to catch war criminals.

Can you say more about clients and rules of operation?

What is the relationship to the multi-billion mercenary sector (Blackwater/Academi etc.) the Bush administration created to make its wars more palatable?

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I did not want to be impolite, so I took some time to think if I can answer your question in a way that would satisfy you.

Unfortunately, I don't think I can and this also would do no good for the original topic. I hope you can understand that.

If you are interested in the topic what I would recommend is to try to get a better understanding how the investigation in war crimes is handled, especially after a country pulls all or a large part of its armed forces from a conflict region like Iraq or Bosnia.

You will probably make some interesting discoveries that will satisfy your curiosity . Good luck.

I don't see how the "mercenary sector" was created by Bush administration. For instance, Blackwater got its first government contract after the USS Cole bombing, from the Clinton administration.

Excellent point. I wonder if those who equate Blackwater with "mercenary sector" would also equate U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command with "mercenary sector" as well?

I don't know. Is the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command a private entity that sends armed employees or contractors to war zones to fulfil military roles?

I should have phrased this better. There have always been mercenaries of course, and I believe there has been an uptick in US government use after the end of the cold war under Clinton. I'm however under the impression that the growth since 2001 has been unprecedented, as is the fact that the number of private sector employees deployed to war zones by the US government outstripped military deployments. So a qualitative change seems to have taken place during that time, even if it was just the continuation of an earlier development.

I could easily be wrong though, because I'm having trouble finding precise and dependable information online – if you have some good pointers about the growth and changed role in US politics of mercenaries, I'd be interested in reading them.

I have no numbers, but I'd agree the use of contractor forces has expanded. However, it clearly was an emerging trend already during the Clinton era, and even before that.

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