Aff

Resolved: The United States is justified in using private military firms abroad to pursue its
military objectives.
Def- Private military firms or Companies or PMCs (or PSCs or PMSCs) can be defined as
legally established international firms offering services that involve the potential to exercise
force in a systematic way and by military or paramilitary means, as well as the enhancement, the
transfer, the facilitation, the deterrence, or the defusing of this potential, or the knowledge
required to implement it, to clients.
In Using- Since the United States will be using the private military firms, the law of the US will
apply to these Private Military firms.
Justified- to show (an act, claim, statement, etc.) to be just or right (Random House Dictionary,)
Pursue- to seek or strive to attain- Collins English Dictionary
V/VC- International Stability/ Consequentialism
Consequentialism is the idea that an action is defined by its outcome. In using these PMCs, the
US will promote international stability in the end.
C1- PMFs play a critical role in achieving International Stability
In "Reconsidering Battlefield Contractors," from the Summer 2005 edition of Georgetown
Journal of International Affairs, Doug Brooks and Jim Shevlin state that Private firms play an
indispensable role in supporting peace and stability operations from Congo to Iraq, but
sensationalization and misinformation of "battlespace contractors" has unfortunately skewed
public perceptions and is having an adverse impact on policy formulation. Despite frequent
claims that private firms are unprecedented, unregulated, inherently unethical and even a threat
to American democracy, the private sector actually has a long history supporting U.S. military
operations, is regulated by numerous domestic and international laws and statutes, plays a central
role in operations critical to speedy state recovery, infrastructure reconstruction and humanitarian
security, and is critical to implementing policies of democratic governments and the international
community. The private sector provides policymakers, as well as those tasked to carry out the
policies, with remarkably cost-effective and flexible tools, and criticisms of the industry too
often have more to do with the politics behind the policies than with the performance of the
companies engaged in their implementation.
C2- PMFs include much more than the common misconception that they only use force.
1. Nonlethal Service Providers (NSPs)
NSPs provide logistics services, air transport, construction of military bases and refugee camps, and
other specialized services such as water purification, unexploded ordinance disposal, and mobile
hospitals. While NSPs face many of the same legal issues as the PSCs and PMCs when they operate in
CPC regions, most concerns about NSPs focus on appropriate procurement policies, whether their
services should be labeled "inherently" governmental, or whether the U.S. military is too reliant on them.

2. Private Security Companies (PSCs)
They provide armed protection for "nouns": people, places, and things. These include politicians, military
leaders, buildings, organizations, convoys, etc.... While conceptually there is little difference between
security guards in Iraq and in the United States, where private security outnumbers regular police three to
one, PSCs in Iraq tend to have military backgrounds, be better armed, and offer a higher level of armed
security capable of defending their "nouns" against attacks by heavily armed insurgents and bandits.

3. Private Military Companies (PMCs)
PMCs are firms used to alter the strategic shape of a conflict. PMCs generally work for states,
international and regional organizations and provide military and police training, security sector reform,
assistance in defense ministry design, and even advice on proper civil-military relations in a democracy.
PMC employees are generally unarmed, though in Iraq some carry sidearms for self-defense.


there is no reason that PMCs will actually mistreat people or fail to carry out their job. Their
main goal is profit, and in order to maximize profit, it is in their interest to honorably carry out
their missions and their jobs.
The Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA) MEJA was a bill passed in 2000 that
allowed persons who are "employed by or accompanying the armed forces" overseas may be
prosecuted under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 2000 for any offense that would
be punishable by imprisonment for more than one year if committed within the special maritime
and territorial jurisdiction of the United States.