Our Best Mercenaries

Dan Bergner has a New York Times Magazine story called The Other Army this Sunday. It's about the twenty-five thousand or so Private Security Company employees performing armed security duties now in Iraq, and I highly recommend it. They are almost unregulated, and some have a habit of shooting first and asking questions later.

Bergner doesn't mention it, but the use of mercenaries is specifically prohibited by article 47 of the Geneva Convention, which may be one reason the mercenary companies prefer the term "private security company."

Their use in Iraq is another consequence of Rumsfeld and Bush's decision to try to occupy Iraq with way too few Soldiers.

History suggests that mercenary armies tend to really become a nuisance if and when peace breaks out.

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