As Adrian mentioned earlier, eight men from the private security firm, Blackwater USA, recently repelled an attack by hundreds of Iraqi militia members. Blackwater also suffered four deaths in the recent Fallujah attack. Many worry that private security firms will turn and run when fighting gets fierce. Clearly, Blackwater chose to stay and fight, and it’s worth noting that these contractors aren’t Dockers-clad delicates. They’re typically former special forces personnel who train our armed forced in weapons use and tactics. In this Privatization Watch (pdf file see p.3) interview I asked Blackwater president Gary Jackson (a former Green Beret) what he thought about the charge that contractors won’t stay and fight. Here’s what he said: We bleed red, white and blue. This is a private, capitalist venture. But we’re here to try and help. We’re almost all career military officers. I don’t know how they think that after serving for 25 years we can walk into the civilian sector and become greedy and money hungry and just want to gouge the government.