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Again the Blackwater USA killings in Baghdad's Nisoor Square are of special interest to CBS (17 reports v ABC 4, NBC 10). From the Pentagon, David Martin reported that "a still ongoing FBI investigation" has contradicted the bodyguards' claims that they fired in self-defense. Instead the feds have concluded that 14 of the 17 civilians who died "were killed without justification." Martin quoted a fellow journalist named Robert Young Pelton describing his experience traveling with Blackwater bodyguards back in 2004. Firing their weapons was "very, very common and typical." Pelton claimed that the bodyguards "were doing exactly what the State Department wanted--guns bristling and frequently blazing--to protect diplomats."
From Baghdad itself, NBC's Tom Aspell added to a quartet of recent reports by ABC's Miguel Marquez (here, here, here and here) on the diminishing violence in Iraq. Aspell offered anecdotes: balloons for sale on the street, barber shops reopening, busy ice cream stands, wedding halls back in business. The city's dawn-to-dusk curfew has been relaxed. It used to be that "only soldiers and death squads moved around at night"--now residents can now stay outside until midnight. But lest one should mistake such an improvement for absolute security, Aspell reminded us that, nationwide, Iraq still suffered 400 rocket and mortar attacks in the month of October and 750 civilian deaths from violence.
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