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P.S.

This is not softball, slow pitch.

Suzanne Simons and Jeremy Scahill deserve our thankfulness for informing our citizenry of what is going on. About 1% of our citizens have actual family/friendship ties to soldiers and contractors whereas in earlier wars, it was a much higher percentage. Our mainstream news media, even if they were permitted to, often cannot get an accurate picture of what is going on because contractors are not permitted to speak with media and even soldiers told me in Iraq that they were told to lie about actual conditions. Without the ferreting out of information by certain concerned individuals, we would not know how interconnected top contractors and specific top U.S. officials were, the path of the money trail....

It amazes me that people just believe anything the liberal media prints. If you have no involvement with the brave men and women that have served for companies like Blackwater, then you really have no real basis to judge. If you can take the word of leftist Jeremy Scahill who was trying to make a name for himself exposing the big bad contractors, then by all means, feel free, but take it from someone who actaully knows... 90% of what is printed is total Bull!
Mr Prince is an honorable man and he provided an invaluable service to assist our military.

How dare you judge people who served their countries and then continued to make an impact after they left their military positions.

I'm curious to know if Suzanne Simons or anyone else has investigated further the significance, if any, of the fact that Blackwater's name and phone number was found in a notebook of Zacarias Moussaoui upon his arrest.

Neo-con warfare. You make money and the government is not accountable.

Stop making war a cold, clinical enterprise. Our militia numbers are low? Bring back the draft and see how willing the US will go to war.

Blackwater is not the only rogue private contractor. In Bosnia, in the 1990s, the Dine Corporation rendered itself notorious when its employees were caught using prostitutes. The privatisation phenomenon is truly massive.

The most important point in all this is the privatization of military operations for political purposes. At the height of the Iraq war there were more "contractors" than official U.S. military personnel. Their deaths and their crimes went generally unreported. This was a parallel development to the Bush Administration's refusal to join the international criminal court to avoid U.S. citizens facing charges for crimes in other countries. The lack of accountability was the whole point!

This is more than a little creepy. This woman is describing a company that is making money in war. I think that last time the US used mercineries was the Revolutionary War. Soldiers of fortune have been around for years but this is isn't a few "independent contractors." And yet, Ms. Simons is taking the position that this is completely ordinary and typical, almost as if XE was a business simply making widgets.

Read Scahill's book for the full story.

Even the conservative show, "24" with Jack Bauer, took down its blackwater equivalent, which corporation was trying to kill the president in 24. If 24 is going to take on its blackwater, sounds like nobody stands up for 24.

Show a little honesty. Let's call these goons mercenaries. "Contractors" makes them sound in some way not reprehensible.

Jeremy Scahill already did an important, near-revelatory book on Blackwater.

Granted, there is plenty of room for more investigation, but it's hard to believe that anyone from war-idolater CNN could provide much, especially someone who must have played an editorial role in CNN's atrociously bad coverage of the lead-up to the Iraq war and of American conduct (private and public) during the war.

From what I have seen, Simons just offers more of the near-criminal adulation of war criminals. When I say "near-criminal", I have in mind that German journalists were prosecuted at the end of WW2 for crimes against humanity. There is no question (1) that the US and its proxies (including Blackwater) committed war crimes in Iraq and (2) there is no question that American journalists (including some at CNN) both supported those crimes and worked to keep Americans ignorant of them.

In other words, one question for Suzanne Simons is whether she is prepared to defend herself and CNN against charges of crimes against humanity (charges which, needless to say, will never be brought in this "winner writes the history" world).

Throughout history, superpowers have fallen when they stop conducting war. For instance, the once feared Mongolian empire was brought down by the Ming dynasty after settling into (relatively) peaceful administration of China.

All recent American presidents except Jimmy Carter have engaged in warfare. That includes President Clinton's engagement in Kosovo. President Obama has accepted responsibility as Commander and Chief and I would be surprised if we don't see the White House maintaining an active role in military developments during this administration.

Within that context, what future role does your guest predict for privatization, and what aspects of military management might be affected by privatization?

not to promote someone else on top of you author but Jeremy Scahill has also done a lot of investigating on the issue. he has a book as well. here is his website for all who are interested. http://rebelreports.com/