Since the start of the global war on terror following the 9/11 attacks of 2001 in New York, there has been an increased demand for mercenaries and the private military/security industry has boomed. The U.K. leads the lucrative global private military industry with Britain being the ‘mercenary kingpin’, according to a report by the charity group ‘War on Want’ for the Guardian newspaper. The Guardian reports: The UK multinational G4S is now the world’s largest private security company, and 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, says the report by British-based charity War on Want. 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” (mercenary) era that followed the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, said John Hilary, executive director of War on Want. 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. In Libya, UK companies led the way [...]