Old black water, Keep on rollin'

The official Iraqi investigation into the shooting by Blackwater security last month recommends that the guards face trial in Iraqi courts and that the company compensate the victims. The three-member panel determined that Blackwater guards sprayed western Baghdad's Nisoor Square with gunfire September 16 without provocation. It really says this on the Blackwater website: "Innovation Begins with Experience". Maybe this is part of that Innovation. Or, as they say, "Our leadership and dedicated family of exceptional employees adhere to an essential system of core corporate values chief among them are integrity, innovation, excellence, respect, accountability, and teamwork." That and indiscriminate gunfire.
Presently, the guards are immune from prosecution in Iraq under a 2004 decree by L. Paul Bremer, a U.S. administrator in Iraq after the war. He issued the decree shortly before leaving Baghdad when political sovereignty was turned over to a provisional government. Now that they have a government, and democracy is beginning to take root, why not start dispensing justice? Or at least what amounts to it in Baghdad these days. Surely it will be a little like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500, but shooting first usually sends the wrong message, at least when it comes to "Hearts and Minds." We are in Iraq, ostensibly, to help that delicate flower of liberty to bloom in the desert. A difficult task when accompanied by the anarchy of grenade launchers.
Recent statistics have suggested that Iraqi deaths have fallen more than fifty percent. This may be simply because there are fewer and fewer targets. I leave you with the motto from Blackwater Global Stability Solutions: "When failure is not an option and hope is not enough."
A nice bit of hyperbole, but not quite "Let Freedom Ring".