Go visit an oil field, rig or tanker and count the heads holding weapons and paid to secure the resources from predators.
Visit any of our more perilous embassies overseas and see how the US officially gets out of stationing "troops" in these hazardous foreign nations.
Look at the folks who are protecting our ambassadors, working as chaffeurs, bodyguards and assistants with the Department of State's official & unofficial blessing.
There is nothing wrong with mercenaries so long as one knows how to use them effectively. They are just another specialized branch of corporate America supporting the government.
It's no different than when Cadillac is hired by the government to design, test & provide armored limousines for the Pres & VP.
This doesn't make Cadillac or GM evil does it? The government uses corporate America to perform specialized tasks.
The function of "protective firepower" does not need to be limited to military forces and, in fact, the sort of policing being done in Iraq is actually ideally done by a well paid mercenarial force. The US military doesn't police very well. It's a tank in a spot that requires an unmarked vehicle.
One of the benefits is that our enemies know their "global leftist audience" won't care if a few mercenaries are killed, such killing won't garner the necessary AP or Reuters headlines - and so killing them becomes rather pointless. The insurgents planting roadside bombs are paid to kill so that folks cry "we need to leave!"
As a military gesture and threat it is symbolic. It is performed as a method of furthering propaganda.
Take away their symbolic victories and they go back to bombing embassies, ships, and things that have an official US flag waving overhead.
Current Events » in reply to Wow, that is just so wrong
You're just too sheltered.