[RACooper]

I say that this is very good news... any of these contractors abusing prisoners or civilians is both ethical deplorable and strategically moronic.

While we may make distictions between the contractors and the military, unfortunately I believe that they will only be percieved as Americans or westerners by the Iraqis and Afghanis... if the western world is to start on the dangerous road that mercenary contracts open up again, we must be prepared to police them just as we would our own troops. Most vitally we must ensure that these contractors are not used as a tool to skirt domestic or international laws....