The matter of who pays the mercenary is distinction without a difference.

The term "military contractor" is the santitized expression for mercenary.

The US government pays a mercenary company and the mercenary company pays its mercenaries.

The mercenaries are paid by money "donated" to the government by US taxpayers.

I hope to God you can understand that and grasp the concept that US taxpayers are still paying for "soldiers" to be in Iraq.

Official US military troops have been withdrawn - or so they tell us - just to remind you, they lied about every single detail of this illegal attack and invasion - but there are still thousands if not tens of thousands of armed to the teeth mercenaries there.

The occupation of Iraq is not over it has just changed uniforms.

Originally posted by vogon42

Originally posted by BRAVO949
Is a US taxpayer paid for mercenary subject to no American law, no Iraqi law and no international law considered a ground troop in your world?

That would be a contractor, not a US soldier.

They exist in South America as well, but they are not on government payroll, they work for private companies.

The Lockheed X-22A took care of the Iraqi army.