At 1:00 PM -0800 3/31/04, Major Variola (ret) wrote:

They need to be driving around in more heavily armored vehicles. All the toys in the world won't help your Toyota repel an RPG.

Ayup. New toys.

Rather hard not to look obviously military in an APC though.

What's wrong with looking obviously military? Especially if you're getting paid for it. :-).

Next time the corpses won't be so roasted, perhaps, which makes for much better video. Also should leave the dogtags (and head, limbs) on the meat. Mmm, I love the smell of merc-jerky in the morning, it smells like self-determination.

Natural selection being what it is, I'm actually thinking about follow-on generations of said merc-meat becoming recursively less toasty over time, as an eventual more efficient replacement for state-paid force. Something which could be fun given the right market forces. So, what, declare all current property claims in Fallujah to be null and void, sell claims off to the highest bidder, and whoever gets there with the most men owns it. I mean, it worked in Texas with the Comanches and Apaches... Yeah, it's a fantasy, but we all have our dreams, right? :-). Cheers, RAH -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'