Guitar Hero to Promote Recruitment?

The American private security company Blackwater Worldwide stands in the heart of another controversy. The company announced distributing a video games kit over US military bases in Afghanistan and Iraq. Since Blackwater human resource is based mainly on ex servicemen, the "gift" is suspected to be part of the company recruitment efforts rather than an act of generosity.

The video game' kit, planned to be dropped out of out of a Blackwater cargo plane straight into the American soldiers' tents, includes Microsoft Xbox video-game console, modem, TV projector and the popular video game Guitar Hero. This military enterprise was initiated by James Overton, a Blackwater recruiter and an army veteran himself who had stated:  "When I was in Baghdad… we'd play this thing for hours… Every place I've ever been to overseas, they've got like backgammon and Parcheesi and chess, and they're all gathering dust. But this is the stuff they play at home. And any semblance of home we can give them is best."

Several disturbing facts interrupts local media from trusting Blackwater's pure concern about the American soldiers' dusty backgammon boards. One of them is that North Carolina Blackwater Worldwide, which defines its chief goal "to support the training needs of the United States military and law enforcement communities", is in fact, a supplier of mercenaries. Additionally, it seems hard to forget the 17 Iraqi civilians that were found shot dead by Blackwater's employees last year, making it harder to imagine them as innocent gamers. So, on one hand, they are better off playing Guitar Hero than killing more innocent Iraqis, yet on the other hand, what's the problem with playing backgammon or chess?