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Dipping My Toe Where It Doesn't Belong.

I realize my blog output has been very slow and anemic this year, and I think I’ve figured out why. I no longer have “Air America” to kick around anymore. For the short time that it was on in the Fresno market, it was an opportunity to hear what people tuned to another reality, apart from mine, thought about the world. I don’t mean that as an insult, it’s just that the average caller on “A. A.” was typically very depressed and pessimistic about the state of the world, and had a world view that reeked of Doom, They seemed to thrive on it. The only thing that would make things better would be if their political party was in charge, and even then the previous administration has made things sooo bad that we may never be able to recover. Though I do have a dark, dank pessimistic side (who doesn’t) it doesn’t dominate my world view. There are too many wonderful and awe inspiring stuff all around us that so few are willing to appreciate to live a life of gloom. I’m sorry, but I just can’t live that way.

This brings me to the reason why I wrote this post. A mercenary security organization called Blackwater has been in the news lately. It has been the object of much derision by the left and much of the media. The tortured and burned victims of the Fallujah massacre, which is cited by many as the beginning of the insurgence in Iraq, were working for this company. I’m not a big fan of having a private firm doing the type of personal security services that should be done by either our military, or the Iraqis, when they are up to it. Regardless, the New York Time has been all over “a Sept. 16 shooting in which at least 11 Iraqis were killed” (that couldn’t be more vague). The incident could be a damming rebuke for the company and its professionalism. But the devil is in the details. Here is an analysis of some of those details, not of the guilt or innocence of the company in this incident, but of what this NY Times article reveals about the level of violence occurring within Iraq. Key quote:

I was under the impression that every time a convoy left the Green Zone it was like the scene in Mad Max II where the fuel tanker (no spoilers in case you haven’t seen it) driven by Max leaves the good guys’ compound. I pictured insurgents leaping off buildings on to the roofs of SUVs, IEDs going off left, right and centre, and suicide car bombs and RPGs coming from every direction.

Where did I get this impression? From watching the TV news and reading the mainstream news websites. It’s almost as if… as if… the media is exaggerating how bad things are in Iraq!

They are operating in a war zone, and many things will happen that are despicable and horrific. This incident may be another Abu-Ghraib. But it may end up being like the Haditha incident, where, save for one, the principals accused of heinous war crimes have been cleared of any wrong doing. Why? Some will argue that it is all part of some sort of government cover-up, but the truth is that the case was far more complex, and less black and white, than the Murtha’s of the world would have it seem. Now I have no qualifications to call myself an expert on anything dealing with Iraq, which is why I haven’t written much about it. But, regardless, we should all step back and wait for ALL the pertinent information to emerge before we make a judgment on this incident.

Hat Tip: Insta-P