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30 Cal. W. Int'l L.J. 1 (1999-2000)
Have Rifle with Scope, Will Travel: The Global Economy of Mercenary Violence

handle is hein.journals/calwi30 and id is 11 raw text is: CALIFORNIA WESTERN
INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL
VOLUME 30                        FALL 1999                    NUMBER 1
HAVE RIFLE WITH SCOPE, WILL TRAVEL: THE GLOBAL
ECONOMY OF MERCENARY VIOLENCE
MONTGOMERY SAPONE*
INTRODUCTION
Mercenary activity has not declined since the end of the Cold War. On
the contrary, the international black market of military services is flourish-
ing. While Cold War counterinsurgencies and covert actions were fought by
shadowy commandos with suspicious connections to the Pentagon, current
low-intensity conflicts are fought by mercenaries with impeccable resumes
who negotiate contracts openly and give interviews to the press. A number
of different explanations have been offered for this increased mercenary ac-
tivity, including the spread of armed conflicts associated with the formation
of new States,' and the sale of military services by detachments of national
' B.A., University of California at Berkeley, 1985; Ph.D., Yale University, 1994; J.D., Har-
vard Law School, 1997. The initial research for this project was conducted at Human Rights
Watch Arms Project as an Everett Fellow. The views expressed by the author herein are not
necessarily shared by either Human Rights Watch or the Everett Foundation. The author
wishes to thank Joost Hilterman at Human Rights Watch, and Professor Duncan Kennedy and
Professor Abraham Chayes at Harvard Law School for their comments and suggestions. The
author especially wishes to thank Captain Sean Sapone (US Army).
1. According to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Mercenaries, Enrique Ber-
nales Ballesteros:
In practice what is happening is that a process of international restructuring has
begun in which the end of bipolarity has left exposed and vulnerable areas for-
merly in liege to one of the two axes of world power. The disappearance of deci-
sive ideological influence, the cutting-off of economic assistance and the with-
drawal of military control forces have given rise, almost naturally, to complex
processes of rearrangement and transition ....
Report on the Question of the Use of Mercenaries as a Means of Violating Human Rights and

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