More Blackwater

This is the best summary I've seen thus far of what happened in the "Blackwater event" in Iraq:

Despite all the new details revealed in the NYT's lead story, it's still unclear why the shooting began in the first place, or who even fired the first shot. But the fateful events of the day seem to have started when "a single bullet apparently fired by a Blackwater guard" killed an Iraqi man who was driving. His foot apparently remained on the accelarator and his car began to move toward the Blackwater convoy. Blackwater guards then began shooting in different directions as panicked Iraqis tried to escape from the scene. In what seems to be the most shocking revelation of the story, after that round of shooting stopped, one Blackwater convoy moved north and began firing at cars again.

By all accounts, the shooting was as intense and indiscriminate as it was sudden. "The shooting started like rain," an Iraqi witness said. The NYT interestingly points out that it seems early reports that talked of a woman who was shot holding on to her baby were wrong. It appears that she was holding the driver, who was her son (the man's "charred remains … were mistaken for an infant," the NYT explains).

...

The WP interviewed people familiar with the workings of private security companies in Iraq, as well as U.S. officials, and off-leads word that many believe contractors use their weapons far more often than what has been reported. Current and former employees say it's fairly common for contractors to open fire, frequently without provocation, and that most of these incidents are simply not reported. Even the man who is tasked with monitoring shooting incidents acknowledged that many companies don't report all of them, which doesn't seem to bother him much.

Don't you like that last line?

But of course it doesn't bother him that all incidents aren't reported. It's silly to apply our civilized standards to Iraq which is one big war zone. It would be a little like asking a police detective in a crime ridden city to pull out all the stops to investigate a burglary. Anyone who is shocked by the revelations of how far down in the jungle Iraq has fallen is simply naive.