1. Human Rights First, Private Security Contractors at War: Ending the Culture of Impunity (2008), at iii.
2. See S. Holmes, ‘Guards’ Iraq Impunity under Scrutiny’, BBC News, 2 October 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7002974.stm.
3. As the Head of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq, in the final days of the formal occupation in June 2004, Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III provided all contractors with immunity from Iraqi prosecution by means of Order 17, in order to make up for the absence of a status of forces agreement (SOFA) due to the nonexistence of an Iraqi government at that time. The Order does provide that foreign employees should comply with all Iraqi laws and that immunity can be waived. According to Order 17, all contractors fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the sending states; see Coalition Provisional Authority Order No. 17 (revised), 27 June 2004, s. 4(2). See also Advisory Council on International Affairs, Employing Private Military Companies — A Question of Responsibility, No. 59, December 2007, The Hague, 14 at 17.
4. Cf., M. Weber, Theory of Social and Economic Organization (1964), at 154.
5. Cf., D. Avant, ‘The Emerging Market for Private Military Services and the Problems of Regulation’, in S. Chesterman and C. Lehnardt (eds.), From Mercenaries to Market — The Rise and Regulation of Private Military Companies (2007), at 181–185.