Didn't we tell them that? Didn't we warn them over and over, no land wars in Asia, George? Never ever goes well, we said. But when he paid no attention and went anyway, we said, at least, George, don't try to fight half of it with mercenaries, who you pay LOTS more than you do your regular troops, and expect things to go well:

WaPo: Military investigators said yesterday that they will not file any charges after completing their investigation into an incident in Iraq last May in which a group of Marines alleged they had been fired on by U.S. security contractors.

The contractors, in turn, had said they were detained by the Marines for three days in a holding facility normally reserved for suspected insurgents, and subjected to rough treatment. The incident highlighted tension in the field between active-duty military personnel and the burgeoning ranks of private contractors the Defense Department has hired to support the war effort.

"Support the war effort." Sometimes all you can do is start giggling helplessly, because Laura used up all the Xanax already and the liquor store is closed.

But the Naval Criminal Investigative Service said there was not sufficient evidence to warrant prosecution of Marines or employees of North Carolina-based Zapata Engineering.

"There was evidence that shots had been fired by Zapata, but there was no way to connect the dots together in a way that we could go forward with the case," said NCIS spokesman Ed Buice.

I'm not going to quote the whole rest of the story; it's pretty incoherent as you can probably tell already. This is being painted as a "no harm, no foul, now everybody go away and STFU already." But one last bit, which would have gone into the Department of Karma if we had one:

The contractors claim they were changing a tire at a Marine checkpoint last May when they were suddenly ordered to report to a nearby base. From there they were taken to a detention facility where they each were handed an orange jumpsuit, a bottle in which to urinate, a Koran and a prayer mat. The contractors, many of whom were ex-Marines, said they received rough treatment, with guards shoving them to the ground and, in Ginter's case, squeezing his testicles.

The men were held for three days in the same facility where the military held suspected insurgents. During that time, they have said, they were refused all requests to contact the Red Cross, their employer or their families.[snip]

An estimated 20,000 private security contractors are operating in Iraq. Tension between contractors and active-duty personnel has run high in some cases because the contractors fall outside the normal military chain of command and make considerably higher salaries than their counterparts in the armed forces. In this case, Schopper said the Marines taunted the contractors while they were in custody by asking, "How does it feel to be a rich contractor now?"

Having learned about as much as you would expect from this experience, the Zapatistas main complaint is apparently that they are now blocked from re-upping as mercenaries and going back for more of that sweet, sweet mercenary pay. Sigh.

I bet at least a few of their body parts give a little twinge, if not a complete shrivelling-up, every time they think about it though.