Hungarian Mercenary Killed in Iraq

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/24/24522/1.html

Despite the makeup, the war in Iraq is dirty business

Last week four people were killed in Iraq when their car came under attack. Among them was a Hungarian. Although deaths resulting from bombings and killings have become routine in Iraq, the death of one Hungarian made immediate headline news in Hungary. In the US and other countries which have suffered casualties in Iraq, such an immediate response to what has become a "routine killing" of an individual has long been abandoned.

One reason for this is because unlike other countries which have been involved in Iraq, Hungary has been spared the worst. With this latest death, the total number of Hungarians killed in Iraq climbs to three. The first was the death of a civilian working in Iraq who was killed by US marines when "he failed to stop" at a checkpoint. For many, this version of events is highly questionable. However, as the US is an ally and that Hungary was (and still is) dependent on the whims and wishes of Big Brother, the Hungarian government decided not to probe any further and uncritically accepted the American version of events. Hungary's second casualty, meanwhile, was military and came about "the usual way"; a roadside bomb exploded near the vehicle in which the soldier was riding.

Without a doubt Hungary's relatively low troop commitment (a couple of hundred at the time) contributed to the low fatality rate. The country no longer has soldiers in Iraq, only a few military advisers to help "train" Iraqi soldiers. Hungary's foreign legion may have returned home, however it didn't stay very long. It soon was redeployed to Afghanistan, albeit in a smaller number than in Iraq. After all, the country is undergoing a severe financial crisis and austerity measures have been introduced; even the military has to pull a little on its wide belt. snip

Mercenaries are not tolerated in any conflict, for they represent the lowest form of humanity. In modern times, they tend to be concentrated in areas of low intensity conflict, where deploying traditional armed forces might be too risky politically, diplomatically, or economically. In essence, their job is to kill or be killed specifically for money; soldiers and other combatants, on the other hand, although there is a measure of remuneration involved, nevertheless do it for a sense of duty, however perverted this sense of duty may be.

It's about time we stop being so coy, and learn once again to read between the lines of the so-called "news" we receive each day. As with the term "collateral damage" which was used extensively in the 1980s and 1990s to mask the true horrors of war, especially on civilian populations, "security guards" and other like terms are still being used to mask an ugly and illegal war. Likewise, we are beginning to forget what the war in Iraq was all about: a war to control the supply of oil.