Calculated Patience?

Posted by on . 22 comments.

Am I the only one who finds it significant that the Iraqi government chose not to reveal the existence of the Blackwater USA videotape till Saturday?

The shooting occurred on Sunday, around noon. The Iraqi authorities must have had the tape in their possession for several days before they revealed its existence.

So why were they sitting on it? Certainly one thing that happened over the last week was that Blackwater USA kept repeating their version of events—that their security guards fired only after they were attacked, and that there was no shooting from helicopters. The other thing that happened was that the U.S. embassy, and the State Department, kept supporting the Blackwater USA version.

Did someone high up in the Iraqi hierarchy declare early on: “Let’s give them enough rope?”

Maybe the same person who came up with the brilliant strategy of threatening to expel Blackwater USA from Iraq?

Comments

  1. JimC says:
    September 24, 2007 at 9:58 am

    Has this tape been made public? Who has seen it?

  2. matt says:
    September 24, 2007 at 11:09 am

    maybe it’s time for you to cut your losses on this one, no?

  3. sac says:
    September 24, 2007 at 11:32 am

    Old news. I saw the tape on YouTube last week, but it’s down now because NBC bought the rights to it and is developing a sitcom based on it, called “Baa Baa Blackwater.” Robert Conrad has already signed on. I can’t wait.

  4. JimC says:
    September 24, 2007 at 12:49 pm

    maybe it’s time for you to cut your losses on this one, no?

    Not sure what you mean, give up on wanting to see hard proof of their guilt? I know your position on Blackwater and that is fine. I just want to know if anyone other than the Iraqi Government has even seen this tape.

    Surely we should consider if the tape actually exists and/or that it clearly shows the events and those events can backup the Iraqi Government’s (and other eyewitness) testimony. If the tape exists, let’s see what’s on it.

    I find it hard to believe that out of all the roadside bomb, ambush, firefight videos that are available to download that this very crucial video wouldn’t be available already on sites like LiveLeak. Yet, I can’t find it there or anywhere else…hopefully we get to see for ourselves what took place and what evidence they have.

    By the way, over the weekend, I spoke with a Syrian man who is my age and a man from Lebanon who is operating a radio station in Baghdad. It was interesting to get their perspectives on the Iraq war. Basically, they praise the US military for bringing the hope of freedom to the middle east. The Syrian man was imprisoned at age 17 for telling a friend his religious beliefs that differ from the police state he lives in. His perspective is that he hopes that someone would liberate his people from the oppression and persecution in Syria and the same for Iran.

    The man who is operating the radio station in Baghdad echoed those sentiments. Seeing the real chance for Arabic people to live free from the dictatorships and Islamic extremists.

    They both praise this war for shining a bright light on these middle eastern countries and their treatment of their people. But they also criticized the US backing of Saudi Arabia, one of the worst in the region.

    As far as the killing is concerned they both stated that they understand that freedom costs blood and they both are certainly risking their own. I can’t go into further details of what they do because they will be in danger when they go back.

    Very enlightening hearing first hand experiences and views of people who live and work there….

  5. matt says:
    September 24, 2007 at 1:38 pm

    Not sure what you mean, give up on wanting to see hard proof of their guilt? I know your position on Blackwater and that is fine. I just want to know if anyone other than the Iraqi Government has even seen this tape.

    it’s not even the point anymore. are people making up all the other incidents, and is the government making up the weapon’s charges?

    and you can keep your two-man poll. we’re at war in iraq, not lebanon (CEDAR REVOLUTION!) or syria (yet.)

  6. JimC says:
    September 24, 2007 at 1:53 pm

    it’s not even the point anymore. are people making up all the other incidents, and is the government making up the weapon’s charges?

    I agree (about not being the point anymore) but on each charge, I still want proof not allegations. The weapons smuggling so far has the greatest legal chance of bringing down Blackwater from what I’ve read.

    and you can keep your two-man poll. we’re at war in iraq, not lebanon (CEDAR REVOLUTION!) or syria (yet.)

    I did mention that the guy from Lebanon works in Baghdad now and the Syrian, without giving too much info travels through Iraq as well.

  7. matt says:
    September 24, 2007 at 2:08 pm

    I still want proof not allegations.

    proof? aside from how many times you’ve demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt that you don’t know what the word means, it doesn’t seem to matter anyway. maliki banned them, and the us govt made it go away. what kind of proof do you think will be in the offing when that is the dominant dynamic at work?

    I did mention that the guy from Lebanon works in Baghdad now and the Syrian, without giving too much info travels through Iraq as well.

    still, i’ll wait for your actual iraqi two-man poll.

  8. JimC says:
    September 25, 2007 at 6:32 am

    still, i’ll wait for your actual iraqi two-man poll.

    I mean this in the nicest way possible but your arrogance and apathy is astonishing. The Syrian man told me that just before he came to the US this latest time, a man reported him to the police for something he said in private and the chief of police called him down the next day and put a loaded gun to his head and told him that his life would cost him only 50 cents, the cost of the bullet and told him he’d better watch what he says from now on.

    This website, had you been Syrian, would have cost you your life long ago, remember that.

  9. matt says:
    September 25, 2007 at 6:52 am

    This website, had you been Syrian, would have cost you your life long ago, remember that.

    go fuck yourself.

  10. JimC says:
    September 25, 2007 at 7:01 am

    go fuck yourself.

    Thank you.

  11. sarabeth says:
    September 25, 2007 at 7:04 am

    Matt, I have been soul-searching since yesterday, and I have reluctantly concluded that we should just shut down our blog.

    Reared on the high-quality blogging they practice at sites like Drudge, freerepublic, lgf etc., JimC has developed very high standards. He is used to blogs offering proof for everything they write (and a very high standard of proof too, it seems).

    When we can’t compete with sites we have contempt for — when we can only dabble in allegations where they furnish proof — we have no business being in business, surely?

  12. sarabeth says:
    September 25, 2007 at 7:08 am

    I just love it when the Christian spirit of Mr. Could-it-be-that-I-just-am-more-forgiving breaks through to the surface:

    I mean this in the nicest way possible but your arrogance and apathy is astonishing.

  13. JimC says:
    September 25, 2007 at 8:16 am

    Reared on the high-quality blogging they practice at sites like Drudge, freerepublic, lgf etc., JimC has developed very high standards. He is used to blogs offering proof for everything they write (and a very high standard of proof too, it seems).

    You assume too much. I don’t often read any other blogs but yours on a daily basis. Really the only time I look at other blogs is when a particular event occurs that I want to see what both sides are talking about but on a daily basis, but most days, I just read this one.

    I do look daily at Drudge but I don’t consider that a blog as he rarely has any commentary, at least on the stuff I look at. More of a information launch pad…funny Drudge is considered liberal by some and conservative by others. It was in fact a liberal who first turned me on to Drudge…told me I should go there daily.

    I even have cut way back on my Pat Dollard time although I feel like should visit his site more often.

    Even though we’re like polar opposites on most things (except Cohen Bros. movies), I find it for some reason compelling to read the posts here. I easily spend 10x more time reading this blog than anything other blog. Maybe I just want to connect somehow to you all….

    I just love it when the Christian spirit of Mr. Could-it -be-that-I-just-am-more-forgiving breaks through to the surface:

    What I said was the truth of how I felt. To say otherwise would be to lie and betray the spirit of truth, I said what I said in the kindest, least hostile way I could for what I was feeling (strongly I might add).

  14. matt says:
    September 25, 2007 at 8:21 am

    funny Drudge is considered liberal by some and conservative by others.

    did you catch on fire after you typed this out?

    What I said was the truth of how I felt.

    i have no problem with that. the truth of how i feel is that you are insane.

  15. sarabeth says:
    September 25, 2007 at 8:26 am

    I really didn’t think it was possible to miss the point of 11. Astonishing how effortlessly JimC proved me wrong.

  16. matt says:
    September 25, 2007 at 8:45 am

    we’ve found his (small c) calling.

  17. JimC says:
    September 25, 2007 at 8:56 am

    I really didn’t think it was possible to miss the point of 11. Astonishing how effortlessly JimC proved me wrong.

    I got it, you were mockingly saying that the blogs (you presumed I read) don’t have a high standard for proving their claims. I get it. My point is that I don’t compare your blog to others as I don’t read them that often. If I did and commented there, I would hope that I would either see the proof or ask for it. But I simply don’t venture those places that often.

    Let me ask, are you suggesting that I start to read these other blogs to see if they use the level of proof I ask for behind their allegations? If so, what would be the take away from such an exercise? That most blogs don’t rise to my expectations of proof? I don’t doubt that at all. Maybe I should also take them to task…of course that would mean I wouldn’t read your blog as much and I would miss you all. :-)

  18. sarabeth says:
    September 25, 2007 at 9:13 am

    the facts of life, Jimmy:
    – you want proof, go back to geometry class.
    – no blog does, or can, offer proof.
    – for that matter, nor does good old Georgie, not when he talks to the press, not when he addresses the nation.
    – or Dollard, whom you so easily believe about everything.

  19. matt says:
    September 25, 2007 at 9:21 am

    That most blogs don’t rise to my expectations of proof?

    that you don’t know the meaning of the word.

    look, aside from our obvious political differences, we don’t play games here. we back up everything we say, provide multiple links from different sources, and clearly label anything that is speculation. we’ve done this the whole time, whether it was me, jason, sarabeth, or anyone else we’ve invited to post.

    we’re not lawyers, and our threshold isn’t beyond all reasonable doubt. we gather information and distill it into posts that track dishonesty, lawlessness, hypocrisy, etc. i’m not sure why you have never been able to understand that if it walks like a duck, and shits on the constitution, it’s the bush administration. and since we’ve spent four years documenting their patterns, with reminders as these patterns repeat and expand, we expect at least an acknowledgment that we’re not rushing to conclusions or pulling things out of our asses. I can still count the number of times we’ve had to walk something back on one hand. that’s a pretty good record for a blog coming up on its four year birthday.

  20. sarabeth says:
    September 25, 2007 at 9:29 am

    …coming up on its four year birthday.

    On October 5, for anyone who’s paying attention.

  21. JimC says:
    September 25, 2007 at 9:50 am

    we’re not lawyers, and our threshold isn’t beyond all reasonable doubt…that’s a pretty good record for a blog coming up on its four year birthday.

    Fair enough and respectable. I never once thought of this blog as not being a respectable blog. You’re very impassioned about what you believe and you present your view point consistently and with careful thought, even if I don’t always agree with it. Sometimes I feel as though you pull the trigger on judgment, even if you are correct, I’m just the type of person who wants to give anyone the benefit of the doubt regardless even of their past. It is just my nature and probably not fair to apply that kind of criteria to your posts but that is just how I deal with conflict, try to understand the point of view, even if I wholeheartedly disagree with it.

    By the way, what has become of Jason?

  22. matt says:
    September 25, 2007 at 11:19 am

    Sometimes I feel as though you pull the trigger on judgment, even if you are correct, I’m just the type of person who wants to give anyone the benefit of the doubt regardless even of their past.

    i’m sorry. being correct, to the extent that it doesn’t affect the actual outcome, is all that matters to us. i don’t care if blackwater’s vp for lying comes here and is dismayed by what he reads. his feelings mean fuck all to me. want to avoid that? stop acting as if your company has no responsibility for its actions. same for the bush administration.

    By the way, what has become of Jason?

    he didn’t want to continue devoting the kind of time it takes to run this blog. can’t say i blame him for that.