A new report says Britain is the “mercenary kingpin” of global private military industry which has been booming ever since the “war on terror” began 15 years ago.
The report by the charity War on Want based in Britain also noted that the UK multinational G4S is now the world’s largest private security company. Meanwhile, no fewer than 14 companies are based in Hereford, close to the headquarters of the SAS, from whose ranks at least 46 companies hire recruits.
“The huge increase in the number of private military and security companies, with contracts running into billions of pounds, signals the return of the “dogs of war era that followed the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq,” said Executive Director of War on Want, John Hilary.
According to the report, at the height of the occupation of Iraq, about 80 British companies operated in Iraq. There are now hundreds operating in areas of conflict around the world, bound only by a system of self-regulation.