Pen-Elayne on the Web

Guarding the Breakfast Buffets?

The brutally murdered and mutilated mercenaries in Iraq were said to be escorting food shipments, which set off a sort of warning bell in my head due to an article Melanie Mattson passed along a couple days ago, all about the U.S. military getting comforts of home in Iraq, including "steaks from Australia, shrimp from the United States and ice cream made in Holland. The breakfast buffets would put many a luxury hotel to shame and... feature 'crisp American-style bacon, not the thick, salty European variety'.'' Has anyone yet determined if the food being escorted in Fallujah was for the occupying force rather than the civilian population? Again, it doesn't make the mercenaries' murders any less horrific, but the idea of "one lifestyle for the occupied and another for the occupiers" could add another dimension as to why the rabid attackers were so pissed.

Update: Okay, Billmon made the connection. They were delivering food to the troops. And the Marines had gone in a few days earlier to "pacify" the area. Cause and effect, people. Forced "pacification" combined with the usual provincial arrogance is a volatile mix indeed.