A (nearly sur)real picture of Iraq

"The Unquiet American" by Aram Roston: "Everyone has heard stories of selfless idealists killed in Iraq. Stoffel was not one of those and probably would not have wanted to be seen that way. He was a self-professed man of action, one who was proudly and openly in Iraq to make a fortune"

This piece from the Washington Monthly is fascinating. It is a dark Hollywood spy movie, complete with journalists, Cuban cigar-smoking, whistleblowing, weapons trafficking, scrap metal sales, even a passing reference to everyone's favorite senator, Rick Santorum, ending with the grisly unsolved murder of our protagonist. Except of course that it is reality.

It is really extremely disturbing to see this portrait of Iraq, a very different lens and atmosphere than usually seen in the press. Roston does a good job pointing out intriguing side details as he goes through, giving you a sense of what is working or not working in Iraq at various times, what's happening behind the scenes with the American government's relationship with Ahmed Chalabi, the Coalition Provisional Authority's engagement with free market principles, and more...

It's a fairly lengthy article, so read it when you've got at least 15 minutes.