“According to news reports, the Americans who were killed and mutilated in Fallujah were ‘private contractors.’ This is a euphemism for ‘mercenaries’: ex-military soldiers of fortune who operate outside the rules of combat.” —MemoryBlog

And: Robert Fisk: “Most Of The People Dying In Iraq Are Iraqis”: ‘Veteran Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk reports live from Baghdad. Fisk describes the “grotesque, gruesome, terrible” attacks in Fallujah, the contracted mercenaries that have infiltrated Iraq: “They swagger in and out with heavy weapons, with automatic weapons and pistols as if they’re cowboys” and the deteriorating situation throughout the country: “The violence and the insecurity, the sense of anarchy is greater.” ‘ —Democracy Now!