Two Steps Forward, Three Steps Back

In Case They Didn't Hate Us Enough... 

Check out this NY Times article about the recent turn of events in the Blackwater Iraq massacre case from 2007.

New York Times: Iraqis Angered as Blackwater Charges Are Dropped

Long story short:

1. Blackwater was protecting a deplomatic envoy when they were led to believe that they were under attack.  They open fire in to a crowded city square.  Many killed and wounded as they tried to escape the chaos.  
2. Anti-American sentiment goes through the roof in the region.  For lack of a better discretion: Everything gets even more fucked up as a direct result.  The general belief is that Americans suck (because they can't tell the difference between Blackwater and US Soldiers). 
3. Investigators deterimine Blackwater did, in fact, commit murder.  

Fast-forward to today...

"On Thursday, Judge Ricardo M. Urbina threw out manslaughter and weapons charges against five Blackwater guards because he said prosecutors had violated the men’s rights by building the case based on sworn statements that had been given by the guards under the promise of immunity."

There you have it.  Gung-ho prosecutors pushed the envelope too far and the judge, no matter how sympathetic he might have been, simply could not find a legal justification to allow the case to continue.  

Here is the kicker, speaking as someone from that part of the world... That part of the world has no frame of reference for what I just described to you.  What they see is black and white: The Americans bribed the right people and protected their own.  Period.  

So sit back and relax... With the US troops pulling out, Iraq is just going to get worse!

Where does this hit a personal note for me?  

A lot of people don't realize that the major turning point in pre-Islamic Republic Iran, under the Shah's rule, was when American contract workers in Iran were given immunity from being prosecuted in Iranian courts.  That basically meant that if an American contractor in Iran hit an Iranian with his car (and killed him), he would be expedited to the US rather than be charged in Iran.  Thus, solidifying the Iranian peoples' suspicions that the Shah was a willing puppet of the United States' campaign to rape and pillage Iranian resources.