THE U.S. mercenaries (two photos) in better days....

[diamond14]

Michael Teague, 38, a former Army soldier, shown in an undated file photo in an image from video, died with three other civilians Wednesday, March 31, 2004, after they were attacked with rocket-propelled grenades in Iraq (news - web sites). The men's bodies were mutilated and dragged through the streets. (AP Photo/Family photo via WTVF-TV)


This is a 1992 photo showing Jerry Zovko at Ft. Bragg, N.C. Zovko, a northeast Ohio Army veteran, was one of the four American contract workers killed in Iraq (news - web sites) Wednesday, March 31, 2004, family members said Thursday. Zovko, 32, died Wednesday when the four-wheel drive civilian vehicles of the private security consultants were hit by rebels' rocket-propelled grenades. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Zovko Family)

[Kathy in Cambridge]

1. Poor guys

what a horrible way to die.

[Florida_Geek]

2. four-wheel drive civilian vehicles

Does not sound like a car to be used in that climate.

[liberalhistorian]

3. I'm in Northeast Ohio,

and my local news just did a story on Zovko, his poor family! I wonder how long it will take for that inhuman nazi robot to make jokes about them!

[MoonRiver]

4. It turns my stomach and makes me want to cry to see them.

I also felt that way when I saw little Ali, who lost his parents and arms during *'s imperialistic invasion of Iraq. So many dead, and FOR WHAT??? :cry:

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Too many people have died for Bu$h's nonsense

how/when are we going to put a stop to this?

[Must_B_Free]

6. Big deal - dead is dead

desecration is overrated. Bullets and bombs desecrate the body.

Thnk of how many innocent people we will kill in revenge for this - that is what I find most disgusting.

[mike_c]

7. agreed-- they were death for profit mercenaries, worse than...

...the run of the mill war criminals in charge of the carnage in Iraq. I'm sorry, but I have no sympathy for them whatsoever.

[Must_B_Free]

12. i have sympathy

for them for their families - they were just misguided people like you and I.

But it is disgusting to make a big deal out of four deaths after we bombed tens of thousands of innocent men, women, children, babies, grandmothers, grandfathers, lovers, students...

We ripped them apart with our bombs, we left pulp of human beings in front of their own parents and children. We dropped cluster bombs that blew the limbs off of playing children. We took litle Ali's arms and gave him a hat in return.

is anyone surprised that these people would harbor so much anger to make them behave like this?

[AwareOne]

8. These guys were hired guns ($500 a day) who voluntarily

joined in Bush's war for fun and profit. I have no sympathy for them or anyone else who is over there exploiting Iraq.

[Zinfandel]

9. What can one say about professional killers...on to the next war zone...

to kill more brown-skinned oil occupying "peasants"...will they get better medical care than our troops...I have no respect for professional soldiers, kill for bucks...and they will tell you differently i.e. ideology..bullshit, I want no part of their philosophy. Are jobs that tough to find under Bush, (yes) or do they just love to kill...they love to kill.

[pop goes the weasel]

10. I am troubled

Yes, by these deaths, even though these guys were mercenaries. Actually, especially because they were mercenaries. Our government has been privatizing the military for some time now. I knew about Halliburton taking over the commissary duties, the transport duties, the quartermastering. But I did not know that we are padding out our troops with mercenaries. Mercenaries who will not get even the laughable medical care the US provides veterans, but are fighting for the same stupid cause all the same. Mercenaries who act with the authority of the US, but provide deniability if the US government wants to use death-squad tactics against civilians. Mercenaries who will end up more fucked up than they already were, unable to live any where but a war zone, who will continue to sow the chaos and discord of war wherever they are, war or not.

The "barbarians" who sacked Rome were not outsiders. They were mercenaries. What the hell are we doing?

[osaMABUSh]

11. The 'civilian' tag is misleading

These guys aren't civilians; there all ex US Military just working for a different Army.

The real civilians are the women and children of Iraq.

[suegeo]

19. How about Corporate Combatants?

Give them the label Corporate Combatants?

[Cat Atomic]

13. Mercenary work is dangerous.

I'm sorry to seem callous, but it's hard for me to muster up alot of sympathy for people working as mercenaries for our corporate looters.

The soldiers- guys like my brother-in-law and my friend- they didn't ask to be there. These guys volunteered, because there's alot of money to made. That's very different.

Still, any loss of life is tragic, and I feel for their families. It's very difficult to lose a loved one.

[LunaC]

14. Karma

As mercenaries, they died as they chose to live - as cold-blooded killers. They knew the risks.

My heart goes out to their loved ones in their grief.

[greatauntoftriplets]

15. I remember grade-school history classes...

...where we were taught that the British-hired Hessians during the Revolutionary War were the lowest of the low. They did it for profit, vs. country.

What is the difference? These guys were extremely well paid for what they did. That said, my sympathies to the families.

:shrug:

[KharmaTrain]

16. Sympathies and Lawsuit???

If their deaths were based on some government negligence (bad directions or information) could the families sue the company and or government?

I'm mixed in my feeling of this carload of Roland The Headless Thompson gunners in the middle of what all knows is the hottest zone in that country. I haven't heard what they were doing in the city and what type of weapons they had. All we see are the aftermath...the knee-jerk video images to outrage, pictures with no words.

It'd be interesting if someone launched a wrongful death suit here and shed a bit of light on Blackwater...that looks more and more like a private army than a "contractor". Didn't the National Socialists also have their own "contractors" for security purposes???

[NewYorkerfromMass]

17. NYPD Mr. Teague?

Oh, like the Iraqis took down the Trade Center? Sorry you died for a lie. RIP

[diamond14]

18. another PHOTO....handsome guy, once upon a time....

Scott Helvenston, in this undated photo, is one of the four civilians who were killed and dragged through the streets of an Iraqi town Wednesday, March 31, 2004. He worked for a North Carolina subcontractor that is providing security in a hostile area of Iraq (news - web sites). (AP Photo/Family Photo via The Orlando Sentinel)

LOS ANGELES - After serving 12 years in the Navy, Scott Helvenston started a career as a fitness instructor and worked as trainer and stunt man for such movies as "Face/Off" and "G.I. Jane."

He helped prepare actress Demi Moore for her role as the first woman to join the Navy SEALs in "G.I. Jane," and appeared on two reality series: "Man vs. Beast" and "Combat Missions."

[hexola]

20. They did say that Iraq would become a magnet for terrorists!