Re: SGII and Mercs

I tried to do some websearch on this stuff (Sandline) and came up with a
LOT
of various stuff, from all sides (I think).  This is a real mess, worthy
of a
Fred Forsythe novel.  Beth has a better grasp on it than I do, but I'll
add my
2cc:

Sandline Intl, a merc/security corporation was in PNG to train the PNG
military, cadre duty essentially, and possibly help against the
insurgency in
Bougainville.  They subcontracted to the South Africa branch of
Executive
Outcomes, a "British mercenary corporation" (unknown web site).  There
was
also a lot of flak (pardon) about 4 copters, 2 Mi-24 Hinds & 2 Mi-7
Hips, that
Sandline/Exec was going to sell to the PNG gov't.  Apparently these
whirlybirds were REAL close to their useful lifetimes.	Apparently a
qualified
mechanic gave them 6 months, 12 at the outside with lots of maintenance
and
repair.  These things had apparently seen action in Angola and Sierra
Leone,
and somebody was trying to foist them off on the PNGs for a lot of
money.

On a related note, does anybody know of any books or sources (reliable)
that
detail mercenary operations postWW2?  This whole business is
fascinating, as
most people, media or otherwise, here in the States treat this as if it
were
from a technothriller, but don't seem to realize that this actually goes
on.
Anything publications here that involve mercs usually end up in the
'Men's
Adventure' section.

Noah V. Doyle