The fall of post invasion Iraq

[Jackalope]

So did Machiavelli:

Mercenaries and auxiliaries are useless and dangerous; and if one holds his state based on these arms, he will stand neither firm nor safe; for they are disunited, ambitious and without discipline, unfaithful, valiant before friends, cowardly before enemies; they have neither the fear of God nor fidelity to men, and destruction is deferred only so long as the attack is; for in peace one is robbed by them, and in war by the enemy.

Well, yeah, I don't go around quoting Machiavelli, though. The man was an enormous dick. Smart, but a dick nonetheless.