Associated Press

Sigh!

Almighty Allah, bestow your grace upon thee for your humble servant, Nouri, is depressed … again. This whole problem with Blackwater - its unjustified killing of my people and now its immunity. Maybe I should just do what I was thinking about in January and quit. But quitting is for losers, no? Either way, I have lost my passion for this work.

There once was a time when, as a young boy, I would frolic along the riverbeds, hand-in-hand with my schoolyard chums; in love with this country and its god. Then Saddam came to power, the rivers browned with run-off and hand-in-hand frolicking became a treasonous offense punishable by hand-amputation. Now — even after ordering Saddam’s execution myself — I am lucky to walk the streets without a handless nub waved at me in anger.

Its like that ol’ Iraqi truism goes: Give the people the body of a newly executed tyrannical dictator and they’ll ask for two. I mean, amidst all of their crying over lost loved ones, does the public ever stop to consider that I cry too? Oh yeah, I cry: when I’m working with American soldiers to crackdown on sectarian militias and the soldiers accidentally kill more innocents … I cry; when I missed last season’s finale of Grey’s Anatomy to review our failing inner-city security forces … I cried, a lot.

And now Blackwater goes ahead and just continues to make me look bad. Sure, I’ll file the paper work to have Blackwater replaced … but why? What good will it do anyone in the long run? I’d rather just run away.

Wimper!