Abstract
The exceptional level of outsourcing in post-invasion Iraq led some commentators to observe how private military companies (PMCs) — or private military and security companies (PMSCs) depending on the terminological preference — constituted the second largest armed group after US troops (see, for example, Singer, 2004; Avant, 2005: 8; PBS Frontline, 2005). However, as this chapter attests, such homogenous rep-resentations of marketized security are analytically unhelpful. To cast all these firms as part of a seemingly cohesive unit masks an extremely diverse and fluid assemblage of actors that differ in terms of experience, reputation, service-provision, domicile-nation, size, and staffing emphasis, among a host of other factors. Indeed, these firms were often in direct competition with one another in what was a rapidly evolving marketplace. As Eric Westropp — formerly Operations Director for the Middle East (with special responsibility for Iraq) with leading British firm Control Risks — remarked at the peak of this boom: ‘the private security sector in Iraq is a very broad church.’1
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© 2014 Conor O’Reilly
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O’Reilly, C. (2014). Operational Risk and Reputational Compromise: Managing the Militarization of Corporate Security in Iraq. In: Walby, K., Lippert, R.K. (eds) Corporate Security in the 21st Century. Crime Prevention and Security Management. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137346070_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137346070_8
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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