Following the Iraqi government's decision to revoke Blackwater's contract, will the company be forced to leave Iraq? 'Private Armies' includes a profile of the controversial private security firm. At Blackwater's training centre in North Carolina, army soldiers are being put through their paces.

Every year, 35,000 soldiers are trained by the private security firm. "We work hand in hand with the military", boasts Blackwater executive, Joseph Schmitz. Before running Blackwater, he held a high profile seat in the Ministry of Defence and has close ties to Donald Rumsfeld. As political pressure to bring back the troops grows, PMCs are shouldering more of the burden. But detractors claim private security firms like Blackwater act with impunity and are not subject to any laws. "For more than a year we've tried to find an effective way of regulating them", states Arianne Quentier from the UNHCR. Kathryn Helevenston's son, Scott, was one of the Blackwater's staff dragged through the streets of Fallujah and lynched. She believes Blackwater's CEO's are: "whores who don't care about the men they hire" and is now suing the company. But with army recruitment levels falling, the army is increasingly dependent on firms like Blackwater.