The $5,108 Drive

Small convoys of armoured cars and Western gunmen charge about �2,750 ($5,108) for the perilous journey.

"You could jump in an Iraqi taxi with a gun and get there for $20," said one security contractor, quoted by the UK's Times newspaper.

But with kidnappings a daily occurrence and Westerners being sold to Islamist militant groups for about �150,000, he advised against it.

A few thousand pounds will afford you two cars and four Western ex-military bodyguards, usually American, South African or British, packing MP5 submachine guns, M16 rifles and/or AK47 assault rifles.

The Link

==================

Is it getting bad yet over there? This is the situation after some 20 months of U.S. "liberation". We should start picking out the site for a new "Wall of Tears" for this war.