Blackwater and the like are curious mercenaries to me....Without having to go and read the book on them, does anyone know how they structure their contracts? Do they write up a service contract for security and in Iraq and have it stipulate a beginning and end date? Do they simply word it as "until we're all safe"? How do you structure an indefinate amount of time for the billing on a service? I have some worries about a) if they are fixed with an end date belieing their insider status, that doesn't seem right and only raises more suspicions of conspiracy b) if they are indefinate, how can we feel better about such poorly framed spending and their (Blackwater's) responsibilities to rate appropriately.

I suppose another question about the "no-bid" rumors likely can't be answered, but if anyone knows a credible answer to that, I'd be appreciative it as well.

According to this source, somewhat dated, as of two years ago Blackwater had received $500 million in U.S. government contracts and 2/3 of that amount was no-bid. The source claims that this is a matter of public record. <link>

A wealth of documented info on Blackwater can be found in Wikipedia. <link>

Tanks!

er, Thanks!