if there was any doubt, by the way...

More than a month, old, but still: this should begin to seal the argument that privatization and constitutionality are diametrically opposed:

Private security guards from Blackwater Worldwide participated in some of the C.I.A.’s most sensitive activities — clandestine raids with agency officers against people suspected of being insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan and the transporting of detainees, according to former company employees and intelligence officials.

The raids against suspects occurred on an almost nightly basis during the height of the Iraqi insurgency from 2004 to 2006, with Blackwater personnel playing central roles in what company insiders called “snatch and grab” operations, the former employees and current and former intelligence officers said.

You can't outsource government responsibilities and also believe in the rule of law -- you have to choose one or the other. (Thank goodness the still-open Guantanamo Detention Facility is run by the Army!)