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I must’ve had this conversation a dozen times in the past few weeks, to varying degrees. With good reason! Hopefully this comic will make the project and my goals for it all the more clearer. As for examples of real-time reporting, the only one that springs to mind are Matt Bors and Ted Ralls’ graphic reports from Afghanistan in 2010. Of course, Joe Sacco beat us all to the punch in the 90s with Palestine, but that was before the ubiquity of the internets. Feel free to correct me if you know of any by leaving a link in the comments below.
Belated good news from the Obama camp that they will be challenging the acquittal of the Blackwater mercenaries responsible for the Nisour Square massacre of 16 September 2007. For those of you unfamiliar with Blackwater, essentially they’re a private mercenary army for hire, employed as go-to guys by the US government but apparently not bound by its legal or ethical codes. Means less litigation down the line for human rights violations incurred in the field, right? (In the interests of national security, of course). Well it did until now.
Jeremy Scahill has been covering their nefarious involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, summed up in his excellent book, Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army. His latest piece for the Nation on the verdict tells the story of the brave man who brought the case against the company after his young son was killed in the massacre. All he wants is an apology, but Blackwater would rather he took the hush money.
