Mercenary firms fear bloodbath in Iraq

June 3, 2007
Mercenary firms fear bloodbath in Iraq

MERCENARY chiefs are urgently reviewing rules dictating when they can use force in Iraq, amid growing fears that another confrontation between private security operators and police could explode into a bloodbath.

Now a confidential memo to the heads of almost 200 private security companies providing bodyguard services in Iraq has laid bare the tensions between local security forces and the growing army of 'hired guns' protecting foreigners involved in reconstruction.