Today's New York Times reports that the Blackwater security firm has fired 56 times thus far this year in Iraq.
The State Department said Thursday that Blackwater USA security personnel had been involved in 56 shootings while guarding American diplomats in Iraq so far this year.
What it does not report is how utterly meaningless this number is. Assuming that the Bush State Department actually believes that it is telling the truth, there's no reason to believe that Blackwater is. When they drive to the airport to pick up the visiting politician, who knows how many shots are fired?
Almost every day, several bodies are found in the streets of Baghdad. No one knows why they were killed or who shot them.
The report does not indicate how the State Department arrived at the numbers released yesterday and there's absolutely no reason to believe them.
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