The headline:

Iraq Shooting Illustrates Contractors’ Legal Void

The story:

Guards employed by Unity Resources Group, a security company responsible for the shooting deaths of two Iraqi women here Oct. 9, had shot and seriously wounded a man driving a van 3 1/2 months earlier on the same Baghdad thoroughfare, according to four witnesses.

The case demonstrates how security companies such as Unity operate in a lawless void in Iraq, with many shooting incidents escaping official or public scrutiny.

Most of the more than 100 security firms in Iraq work under contracts or subcontracts for government agencies, private companies or individuals, creating layers of responsibility that make oversight difficult. Unity effectively regulates itself: The company reported 38 weapons-discharge incidents while protecting RTI employees over the past two years, according to a source familiar with the data. In each instance, the company conducted its own investigation.

Iraq is a conservative paradise! It’s a laboratory for Conservative social engineering! Entrepreneurs, free of pesky governmental regulations like the rule of law, free to unleash the magic of the marketplace in a war zone! What could go wrong?

Nothing that matters, because there’s a lot of money to be made.

In fact, things are going so well that we should apply the same model domestically. After all, they’re Christianists