Most call them Mercenaries, I call them professional soldiers

I was pondering an earlier post when we were discussing Blackwater and I thought I would chime in here and ask the question. Are they illegal combatants or are they professional soldiers that happen to be for hire to legitimate governments for security purposes? (I left that wide open on purpose)

If you go back in recent history you will find a series of civil wars in Africa where legitimate private military companies have been able to accomplish for the government what they couldn't do for themselves. ( I know already..I will give specific examples) I'm doing this so Ryan will stop giving me crap for not posting anything of any substance.

The year was 1995 and the civil war was in Sierra Leon. Executive Outcome was a company based out of South Africa comprised of former South African Defense Force Commandos and Special Forces types. The legitimate government was on the verge of being overthrown by a group called the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). The military was corrupt and incapable of protecting the government or its citizens from the RUF so they contracted with Executive Outcomes to do the job. Executive Outcomes provided the personnel and Sierra Leon's government provided the arms necessary for them to do the job. With 300 men, 1 Mi-24 Hind, 2 MI-8 Hips and a BMP-2 APC they forced a negotiated peace in less than a year and brought stability to the country. Unfortunately this story does not have a happy ending. You'll never guess what happened...the UN got involved. Led by the US the UN security council pounced and 300 private military personnel were replaced by 30,000 UN Blue Helmets and the country fell into disarray once again. This is once again where truth is stranger than fiction, it really happened.

Should these organizations be labeled as a bad thing or should we welcome the expertise that these personnel posess to help end bloodshed when noone else can? Would have been nice to have something like Executive Outcome in Rowanda.