The situation in Iraq can be summarized in one word: Blackwater.

Blackwater symbolizes the failure of both the US and the Iraqi government to secure the center of the country- effectively the only region in Iraq that is still contested by various ethnic and sectarian groups. The center is the only contested region in what is effectively a confederacy of regions and provinces.
In this, Blackwater's case resembles something out of a dark futuristic film, where private companies oversee security, law and order and the central authority is a vague concept. It is what might happen to security and law enforcement if they are handed over to private profit-making companies run by MBAs (not necessarily out of Harvard). Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against MBAs, I may be worse in running law and order: I have a PhD in Monetary Economics, and we are known to solve problems by making convenient assumptions. In one of my former jobs I even had people with high school degrees as colleagues on policy committees. One potentate was a Junior High (Middle School) graduate, and they are probably less qualified than MBAs to advise on economic policy- but perhaps not on security matters.

Blackwater symbolizes to Arabs the helplessnes and impotence of Iraq's elected government (both legislative and excutive) vis-a-vis the United States. It also symbolizes the failure of all Iraqis to provide and respect law and order.

Blackwater is basically, at least in the eyes of most Iraqis and other Arabs, another extra-legal militia, although, unlike the others, its armed men are professional and are not cutthroats. And they only kill in self defense, or try to.

Iraqi officials declared Blackwater persona non grata in the aftermath of 11 civilian deaths in Baghdad, and I noted that this may not stand. Today its spokesman backtracked, saying the company will stay but must respect Iraqi laws, whatever that means nowadays.

Homework Time: Wikipedia calls Blackwater a "private military company and security firm". It is a group of nine specialized companies with speciallties ranging from security aviation to training canines (as in dawgs). Like most of us, it has been called many names by different people- it has been called the largest private army in the world, and a major war profiteer. Earlier this year, a book about the company made the NYT Besr Sellers list, whatever that signifies besides a lot of money for the author. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (2005), when the government failed to provide security in New Orleans, Blackwater soldiers were reported patroling some of the streets. It has also been reported to operate in other places such as Afghanistan and Central Asia.

So, Blackwater succinctly summarizes the four-year mission in Iraq. The mission started with high hopes and some misgivings, on both the Amrican and Iraqi sides, and it ended up thus: hired armed men to provide security where 150,000 American troops and double that number in Iraqis cannot. That tells me it is time to start getting out.

In Lebanon, another legislator, again a member of the pro-government March 14 Movement, was killed. He was blown up along with nine others by means of a favorite Lebanese invention of the 1980s: the car bomb. It looks suspicious, but then most car bombings tend to look suspicious to most of us, no?

Cheers
Mohammed