P-61 Shadow Company.. Private armies for hire...

Documentary Feature: 'Shadow Company'
Will the world privatize peace? Or, has it already done so? LOS ANGELES - In the second clip from 'Shadow Company' in the Hot Zone's Documentary feature series, private security contractors and historians discuss exactly how militaries-for-hire came to be.

Our discussion with co-director Nick Bicanic continues as he explains how Shadow Company is not a movie about Iraq, and that private security companies might be the answer to the crisis in Darfur. Excerpts from that discussion are below.

And yes, Iraq created a big new market for these guys, 50,000 or more currently working there. But the fact is, as much of the film states, the industry has been around for a long time and it will continue to stay around for a long time. If anything Iraq is just a spike in business, but it's not like it got created because of Iraq.

HOT ZONE: These private armies have played an important role in ending wars in the past and might do that again in the future.

The reason I brought up Darfur is [due to] Blackwater (a private security firm), who is fairly infamous for a number of reasons, one of them being it was their four employees who were burned and hung from a bridge in Fallujah which for many people was a catalyst in at least finding out a little bit about the existence of these guys.

Cofer Black (Vice Chairman at Blackwater) has said that Blackwater is ready to go to Darfur and willing to do it.

Think about what that means.

The fact that a private company today — irrespective of who it is, this happens to be Blackwater — has the ideological desire, the ability, and the manpower and the money to pull off an operation like that is very scary. I don't know how many people are aware of that.

Documentary: 'Shadow Company' Part I

Documentary: 'Shadow Company' Part II

Documentary: 'Shadow Company' Part III

Documentary: 'Shadow Company' Part IV

Documentary: 'Shadow Company' Part V