MERCENARIES INVADE NEW ORLEANS

Mercenaries just sounds so much better than security guards:

Hundreds of mercenaries have descended on New Orleans to guard the property of the city's millionaires from looters.

The heavily armed men, employed by private military companies including Blackwater and ISI, are part of the militarisation of a city which had a reputation for being one of the most relaxed and easy-going in America.

Two Israeli mercenaries from ISI, another private military company, were guarding Audubon Place, a gated community. Wearing bulletproof vests, they were carrying M16 assault rifles. Gill, 40, and Yovi, 42, who refused to give their surnames, said they were army veterans of the Israeli war in Lebanon, but had been living in Houston for 17 years.

Yikes, Texas Jews with guns! Blood will replace water in the flooded streets of New Orleans.

Update: In the sense that these security guards are hirelings they are mercenaries. They are, however, not mercenaries in the accepted sense:

Main Entry: mer·ce·nary: one that serves merely for wages; especially :a soldier hired into foreign service.

Update II: Those arriving via Tim Blair's link might want to click here to read about my ongoing stoush with Tim "Fact-Check Boy" Lambert. Blair started it.