Plain language is ever the enemy of those in power. I find it particularly tasty that pundits on the conservative right, who cut their teeth on attacking the "political correctness" movement, are reduced to haggling over the appropriate term for armed men who sign private contracts to serve in war zones for pay.

One would hate to think that one is oppressing the "armed civilian security contractors" by calling them by the archaic and biased term "mercenaries". I'm glad that the hawks on the right are so concerned with the genteel sensibilities and profound sensitivity of these former commandos that they've gone to linguistic war on their behalf, fighting for their right to choose their own designation, and free themselves from the old patriarchal repression loaded into the term "mercenary".

What a crock. They're mercenaries, freeswords, soldiers for hire, the dogs of war. The bias is there, because it's accurate. Mercenaries go where others won't, and they do things that others won't, and they go there and do those things for MONEY, not love of country.