Executive Outcomes

Throughout my research I have come across the name 'Executive Outcomes' over and over again. Although it no longer exists, the company certainly seems to have made a lasting impact on the world of private military contractors. So, I thought that, in this post, I would examine the basics of its rise and fall. The Center for Defense Information, a Washington DC think tank, hosted a PBS television program called "America's Defense Monitor" from 1987 to 2000. Back in 1997, they brought on Admiral Jack Shanahan, a retired US navy officer, to discuss the disturbing growth of such companies.

The basic difference, he said, between the traditional idea of what a mercenary is, and what they are becoming, is that "the modern mercenary firm is increasingly corporate." This is perhaps best exemplified in the story of Executive Outcomes, a firm founded in 1989 by, funnily enough, Eeben Barlow, who was, for a time, second in command of 32 Battalion. What he did, I think, is create a new way of doing business, as it were, in relation to guns for hire . It "maintains it only works for legitimate businesses and governments, or at least those recognized by the United Nations. EO is not afraid of publicity." It truly became, then, a company, that, if its work was questionable, nonetheless felt able and willing to operate out in the open. Here is where it seems to me that Executive Outcomes connects most to 32 Battalion. The founder, Eeben Barlow, came from an environment in which constant war was the norm, a regular aspect of life. What he managed to do is merge the brutality of the bush war with the sleek modernity of contemporary western business practice. The results spoke for themselves, in the sense that, while the group was successful, they ran afoul of human rights groups that criticized their methods. Although the South African government eventually forced them to disband, they were predecessors to both American companies like Blackwater and more clandestine actions by private individuals in Equatorial Guinea.