Jeremy Scahill, Nation contributor and author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army, appears on MSNBC’s Morning Joe to talk about military contractors and the privatization of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Scahill says that this is “not a right or left story” and that it’s impossible to talk about free-market competition and then give contractors no-bid contracts. He describes the blurring of lines between the military and companies like Blackwater, pointing out that the US paid for the training of many of the contractors, who came from the military, and are now being double-billed for them, and that these contractors are engaging in armed combat in the current wars. He also notes that the contractors create blowback against US soldiers, who are blamed for the actions of unaccountable “security” forces.

—Sarah Jaffe

Check out more great Nation videos on our YouTube channel.