Private military contractor (hush, let's not use the word mercenary) Blackwater is rebranding itself. Its futuristic new name is Xe (pronounced, as my American friends do, like the last letter of the alphabet). As the LA Times says, what else can you do when your employees are facing manslaughter charges and your biggest customers have just pulled your contracts. This allows the company to dissociate from those nasty moments like the violent firefight in 2007 that left at least almost 20 Iraqi civilians dead.
Still, there might be another reason. As The Nation's Jeremy Scahill suggests, it might all be about positioning the company in new business ventures: intelligence gathering and chasing Somali pirates.
Whatever change, the company will still smell bad. Just as Philip Morris changing its name to Altria could not avoid the fact that cigarettes cause cancer, Blackwater/Xe will remain a mercenary.
There may be a reason they choose “Xe” – spoken “Z” as their new name: see the Costa Gavras Movie “Z”, then you will have some impression!