More merc news

Here is a link to news about Sandline and the British Government.
Apparently this wasn't about PNG afterall but about Sierra Leone.

http://www.yahoo.co.uk/headlines/980508/news/894642889-8946428921.html

Now then, getting back on target in the FT universe -

What restrictions would be placed on government and especially mercenary
use of Monofilament deployment?

I would imagine that during a big war (like one of the Solar Wars) its
all
out, do what you must to win. But in security operations there must be
some
limits. All this news about Sandline indicates that they are allowed to
operate but only under some set of  international laws.

At concern would be: post battle clean up. much like the land mine issue
of
today. Land mines are indeed a real scourge. They are extemely useful in
war, but after war they become a nightmare. The clean up costs are
really
high - the degree to which civilians want mines cleaned up is much
higher
than what the military considers cleaned up. If a field is cleared of
mines
it is considered safe when 90% of them have been detonated/removed.
However, clearly, normal civilians would like to see them cleaned up
100%.

I can imagine the political coin one could make out of an incident where
an
opposing merc force used mines or monofilament - especially in populated
areas. Look how worked up people got when the Soviets dropped brightly
colored toy shape mines in areas where Afghani children could find
them...

--Pete