War Is Boring

by DAVID AXE In World Wars I and II, the Allies used merchant ships, secretly fitted with weapons, pictured, to fight German U-boat submarines. In World War I, these so-called “Q Ships” worked, because the U-boats would surface and try to hit the merchant ships with their guns, to save expensive torpedoes. In World War [...]

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/dXD2ANDNKgo" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /] by DAVID AXE In the wake of a recent rebel uprising in eastern Chad, up to three Chadian aircraft have allegedly attacked targets inside Sudan. Khartoum called the attacks an “act of war.” The aircraft are most likely Swiss PC-9s, fitted with weapons in violation of Swiss law, or [...]

Contributor Kevin Knodell points out a bold proposal for winning the war in Afghanistan: teams of civilian mercenaries mixing with Special Forces, spreading out across the countryside to work more closely with Afghan police and soldiers. Blog Free Range International describes how one team comprising U.S. commandos and Australian, New Zealand and Canadian U.N. contractors [...]

Contributor Kevin Knodell writes: In 2006, mercenary firm Blackwater offered to send employees to Darfur to assist in peacekeeping efforts. This offer led to wide discussion about the potential of using Private Military Companies, pictured, to help play a role in protecting populations (rather than VIPs and corporate facilities) in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. [...]