On May 16, the inaugural Green Business Summit, sponsored by the Boston Business Journal (BBJ), brought together executives, policy advocates, and investors to discuss how to build greener businesses. The BBJ should be applauded for encouraging companies to face the challenges presented by global warming and other environmental threats. As publisher Michael Olivieri has said:

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One of the first socially responsible investment (SRI) screens excluded weapons suppliers from investors’ portfolios; today, however, publicly traded companies don’t just build weapons – they fight wars. Privatized Military Operations (PMO) have been integrated into American missions in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other less-visible theaters worldwide.

Researchers at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces have produced a fascinating in-depth review of PMO in modern warfare. The report, released in 2007, highlights the extent of PMO involvement in the Iraq war. For example, the ratio of private contract employees to American troops in Iraq is 1 to 1.5.

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