Blackwater: Did anyone hear this???

[DblBarrelJ]

Well, yet another story published yesterday about Blackwater being cleared in a shooting, which... guess what... NOBODY F'ING REPORTED.

link


/rant

[DVaut1]

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NOBODY F'ING REPORTED.

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link


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Does not compute.

[DblBarrelJ]

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NOBODY F'ING REPORTED.

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link


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Does not compute.

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Just because I found one article doesn't mean it was widely reported. This story came out yesterday. If you were already aware of it, prior to me bringing it up, I'll be greatly impressed.

Edited to add:

Also, just for the record, I was actually searching to see if Blackwater had been cleared of any more of the accusations lately, and, after digging through about 30 articles related to Sept 16, and a few great pieces about FBI agents refusing to return to Iraq to investigate the incident on Sep 16th after the FBI changed their security detail from BW to US MP's, I found one.

[Jamougha]

The article you link to seems to be taken from the washington post article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...702751_pf.html

Slightly different emphasis hmm.

[DblBarrelJ]

[ QUOTE ]
The article you link to seems to be taken from the washington post article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...702751_pf.html

Slightly different emphasis hmm.

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[ QUOTE ]
U.S. officials were "overwhelmingly convinced" that the Blackwater guards acted appropriately, based on information they had provided, according to the diplomatic security official. He spoke on condition of anonymity because a joint U.S.-Iraqi commission is investigating private security matters, including previous Blackwater shootings. Shortly after the Feb. 7 incident, the official said, the U.S. Embassy briefed an Iraqi government official and invited him to discuss the matter further, but the embassy never heard from him again.

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Change the dates, and this report is pretty much a standard form letter for these guys.

Its always the same "They were cleared, but they shouldn't have been."

It's like a speech my DI gave our cadet class on the first day of Academy: [ QUOTE ]
"This line of work is the only job in the world where everyone who has never stood in your shoes can make better judgements, conduct better investigations, write better reports, and stop threats with less force than you can. However, they'll still call you for assistance, rather than attempt to make judgement calls, conduct investigations, write reports, or neutralize threats. Then when you do it, you'll do it 'wrong' about 90% of the time. Welcome to my world, ladies and gentlemen."

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That's pretty much the mentality the public seems to have here with Blackwater, and with those put in a position to investigate Blackwater.

[RedBean]

[ QUOTE ]
The article you link to seems to be taken from the washington post article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...702751_pf.html

Slightly different emphasis hmm.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oddly enough, that Washington Post piece on Blackwater that is loose with the truth was authored by Steve Fainaru.

And if you know anything about him, factual reporting doesn't run in his family.

His brother is Mark Fainaru-Wada....the SF Chron reporter and author of the Game of Shadows book regarding Barry Bonds....the book that the Pulitzer prize committee shunned immediately and declared to be "not able to be viewed as credible, nor based on factual events."

[DVaut1]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The article you link to seems to be taken from the washington post article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...702751_pf.html

Slightly different emphasis hmm.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oddly enough, that Washington Post piece on Blackwater that is loose with the truth was authored by Steve Fainaru.

And if you know anything about him, factual reporting doesn't run in his family.

His brother is Mark Fainaru-Wada....the SF Chron reporter and author of the Game of Shadows book regarding Barry Bonds....the book that the Pulitzer prize committee shunned immediately and declared to be "not able to be viewed as credible, nor based on factual events."

[/ QUOTE ]

How the [censored] did you turn this into another thread about Barry Bonds? Isn't there a thread in SE for this?

[DblBarrelJ]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The article you link to seems to be taken from the washington post article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...702751_pf.html

Slightly different emphasis hmm.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oddly enough, that Washington Post piece on Blackwater that is loose with the truth was authored by Steve Fainaru.

And if you know anything about him, factual reporting doesn't run in his family.

His brother is Mark Fainaru-Wada....the SF Chron reporter and author of the Game of Shadows book regarding Barry Bonds....the book that the Pulitzer prize committee shunned immediately and declared to be "not able to be viewed as credible, nor based on factual events."

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow RB, I'm glad you brought that up. I'll be honest, I just gave the Post article a cursory glance, then went back and delved into it deeper after reading your post.

That article truly is complete and utter propaganda. I love the whole "Yea, they're cleared, but they're cleared because the State Department is incompetent, here's why." mentality.

Who is this guy? I don't read the Washington Post, I'm starting to look more into him now. I know you said his brother had been involved in some controversy, but has the writer?

[Jamougha]

Dbl,

[ QUOTE ]

Change the dates, and this report is pretty much a standard form letter for these guys.

Its always the same "They were cleared, but they shouldn't have been."

[/ QUOTE ]

An apparently closed door investigation by the US suffers from a lack of credibility. I have no idea what happened but I wouldn't count this as a major piece of evidence if I were to try to find out.

[DblBarrelJ]

There was nothing closed door about it. You misread my point. The point is, these guys are constantly accused of crimes, and always cleared.

Why does this happen?

#1. Perception - These guys are labeled as terrorists by a few nutjobs in the media, and the treatment is given to them so often that the average person buys into it.

#2. Credibility - I've become convinced any journalist who happens to be in Iraq will take down any and every story any Iraqi civilian tells them as they walk down the streets concerning the US Military, or Blackwater, publish it verbatim, without even going through the basic journalistic process of finding three sources which agree before publishing, then call the street story "fact." Then the same journalist will become incredulous when the State Dept actually investigates and says "uhhh No."

Also, another point I'd like to make about articles such as the post article is that they're always filled with these mystical "anonymous sources".

I'll accept an anonymous source on rare occasion, but one thing I've learned from police work is that most "anonymous" sources want to remain anonymous for one of three reasons. Either they:

A) Are lying
B) Don't Exist
C) Fear for their lives

more often than not, in my experience, A and B are the popular choices.

While I whole heartedly support, and am a strong defender of the 1st amendment, that also comes with a price. You are absolutely free to print and say anything you so desire, but, when you lose credibility for doing so, it's not my problem.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where the media has become responsible for its own credibility, as the story I've linked in the OP will never be given headline coverage. Think about it. I'm not just talking Blackwater here, I'm talking news in general, when is the last time you've actually seen a news organization say "We were wrong, this is the truth" in an easily accessable fashion, rather than on the back of the "Living" section, right in between the Obituaries and the Personal Ads?