Steven Vincent

September 11, 2001 changed art critic Steven Vincent into a war correspondent. Mr. Vincent 'fully supported the Iraq war, believing it was part of a much larger campaign being waged by the United States against "Islamo-fascism."' Go read The Tragedy of Steven Vincent [swopa at Needlenose] for more. Recently, Mr. Vincent reported about off-duty police officers in Basra who ride around assassinating their religious and political enemies. A few days ago, he was apparently kidnapped and killed by these very people.

It appears that the training of Iraqi police officers lacks something--"rule of law?" Well, at least they have learned from US leaders that "indictments" are effeminate; in time of war you kill your enemies.

UPDATE 11:50 am

The late Mr. Vincent would probably have dismissed me as a western-civilisation-hating leftist but in his blog he agreed with me that Iraqi police should be trained in liberal democratic principles:

The fact that many, if not most, of Basra's constabulary harbour primary loyalties to the city's religious parties is a serious problem. To the despair of many secular-minded residents, the British are doing a crackerjack job of teaching Iraqi police cadets close-order drills, proper arrest techniques and pistol marksmanship, without, however, including basic training in democratic principles and a sense of public duty. As a result, our Anglo allies may be handing the religious parties spiffy new myrmidons to augment their already well-armed militias.

[For 'militias' read 'Shia religious police.']

God our security,
who alone can defend us
against the principalities and powers
that rule this present age;
may we trust in no weapons
except the whole armor of faith,
that in dying we may live,
and, having nothing, we may own the world,
through Jesus Christ. AMEN
--Janet Morley, All desires known, 1988