I think I understand where you are all going with this. Let me see: IRIS is the United States military- the most powerful force in the arena; and the other suppliers are strapped-for-cash outfits like the British Army, struggling by on obsolete equipment, or fielding a token handful of personnel with no real hope of affecting things either way. Yes it works, doesn't it? It explains all the sniping and griping against the US (IRIS) with its fistfuls of cash and endless resources - coming from outsiders who weren't invited to join the union (TFB etc) Also you can clearly see that whatever happens in this campaign or the next or the one after that, the US (IRIS) will be around for a long, long time - and eventually all the erstwhile combatants, like the former VietCong, will be buying Big Macs (ILB), Coca-Cola (ILE) etc. Yep, an excellent analogy. Clearly the reason the keyboards all get hammered at every mention of IRIS is coz all the other suppliers can see the writing on the wall and know their own days are numbered..