OVERVIEW: 

  PMC's are not mercenaries, they are professionals turning the tide on the war on terrorism, and defending the burgeoning democracy in Iraq. History has labeled them as Mercenaries, Soldiers of Fortune, Shadow Soldiers, but today more appropriately, Corporate Warriors. The rate of growth in this industry is phenomenal. 80% of PMC’s are former military, and law enforcement, most coming out of Special Operations. 

  PMC’s are a little known but very real phenomenon whose men and women are currently living, working and dying in Iraq along side our soldiers and we’re just now starting to hear about it. There are more than a hundred  Private Military Companies throughout the world, and in Iraq they amount to the second largest fighting force in Iraq, numbering almost 20,000. 

  HISTORY: 

  Mercenaries may not be the world's oldest profession they are likely a very close second. They have existed since war began. Throughout most of human history it was considered the order of things that the destruction of war should be left to needy foreigners so citizens of rich states could go on making their fortunes. 

This tradition goes back to the fourth century B.C., and mercenaries have figured prominently in some of the greatest military campaigns in history ever since. The Carthaginian armies were mercenary, as was that of Hannibal when he invaded Italy. Alexander the Great employed some 50,000 mercenaries in 329. 

  During the Middle Ages, (1100-1500) mercenaries were frequently used. During this period many rulers hired trained professional soldiers to protect their states. For example, in the 1790s it is estimated that of the Prussian army's common soldiers, over half of them--some 200,000--were foreign mercenaries who had no commitment to the cause for which they enlisted. Some states hired out their soldiers in order to make money off their services. Indeed, mercenaries were a significant presence in the American Revolution, with 30,000 Hessian mercenaries fighting for the British. And Americans have on various occasions themselves been mercenaries. In order to distinguish the blurring images of past and present mercenaries, some distinctions should be made.
  The first type are those traditional mercenaries whose primary motivations are profit or adventure. The Serbian soldiers who recently participated in Zaire's conflict on the side of the Mobutu government are representative of this type. Another example is former soldiers working for drug traffickers. The second type are small military groups that work for a host government and provide security for a specific region. These particular mercenaries, as seen in Africa, limit their services to the local area and authority. A third type can be identified as transnational ideological groups, those compelled by ideology or religion to train and fight in foreign areas. For example, some Islamic Fundamentalists carry out what they believe to be God's will by traveling to aid struggling Islamic fighters in different nations, as was the case during the Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan. 

  Finally, the most recent development is the organization of private contractors into companies with internal structures similar to those of business corporations. Whereas paid soldiers of the previous three groups fall under the jurisdiction, at least in theory, of domestic or international customary law, employees of international business corporations answer only to the company. 

The important distinction here is that such firms are bound by the terms of a business contract and not necessarily those of international law. 
  The end of the global superpower rivalry combined with the possibility for instant transmission of combat footage via satellite television have made big powers less willing to prop up weak states, engage in foreign combat deployments that have little ideological value, or become involved in civil wars abroad. Somalia is a case in point. After American forces suffered 18 fatalities during a 1993 battle in Mogadishu, President Clinton pulled U.S. forces out of the lawless African country. 

A year later, when genocide erupted in Rwanda, no foreign power intervened and hundreds of thousands were killed.