A business model that really succeeds in war
Nation states have used mercenary soldiers since Biblical times. The Romans used Gothic mercenaries to fight Hannibal and his Carthaginian army. The English used Celtic warriors to defend against the Vikings. The British used Hessians during the Revolutionary War here in the United States. Mercenaries have enjoyed a very mixed reputation since government entities have used this soldier-for-hire service.
The most successful use of a mercenary army must surely be the late 20th century prowess displayed by a company called Executive Outcomes. In conflict-torn countries across Africa, governments and multinational corporations have hired the company to protect assets like oil fields and diamond mines while the carnage raged around them. Ethiopia, Uganda, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Namibia, Botswana and Angola are just some of the countries that have implemented executive results. Chevron, DeBeers, Rio Tinto/Zinc and Texaco are just a tip of the companies that have contracted with the company to protect valuable production assets.
The name Executive Outcomes would seem to indicate that this mercenary army provided more than bullets and contract soldiers, and they did. The firm acted as an adviser to governments, provided in-depth background checks on prospective employees, wrote software, provided training at its company-owned schools and controlled more than 30 legitimate businesses. However, it was as mercenaries that Executive Outcomes dazzled.
The company consisted mainly of forming the South African Special Forces, peppered with a few British, Scottish, Irish and American soldiers of fortune.
The speed and lethality of Executive Outcomes’ operations became legendary, instilling fear in its opponents and admiration in interested parties such as the CIA, Hamas, the Israeli Mossad and the Russian KGB.
Executive Outcomes offered a turnkey service tailored to every geopolitical and corporate need. If a refinery needed protection from revolutionaries, it was done, and the corporate assets hired to protect the company were never lost. If a town or city needed liberation, this would be accomplished with unbridled speed, tactics, and firepower.
The company’s most famous and public success was in Sierra Leone. A brutal civil war had turned the country into a supernatural zone of death, inhumane killing, rape, torture and hatred. The little boys were armed to the teeth and took great pleasure in killing children, the disabled, puppies and each other.
Sierra Leone has one of the world’s largest diamond deposits and the mines were constantly attacked by rebels. The Sierra Leone government and the United Nations feared that if the rebels took control of the diamond mines, they could use the conflict diamonds to further finance their folly. The rules of engagement and the fees paid to Executive Outcomes were never publicly disclosed. It was also never announced, but it was widely believed that the company was contracted and paid for by the United Nations.
The United Nations had placed 4,000 peacekeeping troops in Sierra Leone. They had suffered a series of embarrassing losses and, predictably, were unable to stop or even slow down the rebels a bit. The decision to hire Executive Outcomes was painful for the international community. Diplomacy would never work. Hunger was rampant. The possibility of the fighting spreading to Nigeria and other countries was imminent. The idea that a private company could resolve the situation, and quickly, was a bitter pill to swallow for the diplomatic community.
Executive Outcomes assembled a team of 300 professional mercenaries. If they were a baseball team, the equivalent would have been a team of 300 Albert Pujols or Mickey Mantles. These guys were good, the best fighters in the world. Each had extensive experience in multiple nasty wars, from Angola to East Timor, and many more. They faced a rebel army made up of an undisciplined but brutal force estimated at between 50,000 and 60,000 rebels.
The mercenaries relied on speed, surprise, coordinated tactics, and logistics. The rebels relied on superior numbers and firepower. The competition was, well, no competition. Within days, the rebels had been driven from the capital, thrown into the jungle, and killed by concealed fire teams and snipers.
The United States had suffered an embarrassing defeat in a similar situation in Somalia a year before the events in Sierra Leone. The incredible success of Executive Outcomes opened the eyes of military planners, governments and humanitarian groups around the world. It was a shame for them. As the mercenary army secured Sierra Leone, the violence subsided and food and medical care flowed back into the country. The unpopular truth was that Executive Outcomes, a 300-strong army, had accomplished a feat that no government could or would undertake.
This is where the story takes a sad, almost perverted turn. Eighteen months into stabilizing the country of Sierra Leone, the government, under strong international pressure, asked the Executive Outcomes forces to leave. They did, and within a few weeks the rebels regrouped and infiltrated the cities again.
Also, at this time the genocide in Rwanda was beginning to receive international news coverage. Executive Outcomes presented the CIA, the United Nations and the French government with a business plan offering to enter Rwanda and stop the killing. Surprisingly, they all said no and the issue was kept secret. No government took action as more than 800,000 Rwandans were massacred in a televised ethnic cleansing.
In 1999, the South African government outlawed mercenary activities, effectively putting Executive Outcomes out of action. The embarrassment that the company had brought to the doorstep of weak and wavering governments was too much for them. Instead of using and managing Executive Outcomes as a tool to minimize and eliminate criminals everywhere, the United Nations preferred to serve up prudish drivel while a country was raped, looted and murdered.
I wish we lived in a perfect world, or a sane one. We don’t. I wish there was no need for a mercenary army to exist anywhere. However, Executive Outcomes proved that such a force, when used by the good guys, would be a force for good.
Executive Outcomes is the military equivalent of an organization like the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. Executive Outcomes’ disruptive innovation was negotiating contracts with governments and international organizations, delivering fast, clear and decisive results, minimizing loss of life, stabilizing the territory and provide a chance for peace. The company should have been praised, not ridiculed by cowardly and vapid bureaucrats and politicians. The company was a classic example of entrepreneurial success, solving problems and delivering the necessary benefits.