Fake Blood and The Smell of Napalm In The Morning

Amputees have star roles in war games
This bizarre story appeared in Harpers this month and in The Toronto Star today. Apparently the US government spends $117 per year staging elaborate war games, most recently in Fort Polk, LA. They construct entire cities complete with sounds, smoke and smells and then go at each other with laser guns. What's beyond strange is that the fake insurgents, made up of amputees, Arabic-speakers and Louisiana extras, crush the American troops in these exercises. Now that's frightening.