Mercenaries in America

The Dark Wraith has posted an interesting and rather alarming piece about the use of mercenaries in the devastated Gulf Coast region.

[E]ven if it can be reasonably argued that mercenary forces are important in the war resources inventory, their use by the United States federal government on domestic soil is, if not entirely unique, certainly without well-known precedent. That these soldiers of fortune are, themselves, United States citizens blunts what would otherwise be a loud outcry; but their presence in the Gulf Coast region, in at least some role acting as patrols in the evacuated areas of New Orleans, has raised eyebrows and caused consternation.

The war has indeed found its way to American shores. Disturbing stuff.