Things that don't make as much sense as they first seem ...

Ken Bigley

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The news channels were pretty much saturated with reports of Ken Bigley's murder today. Commentators kept repeating the same line; that it was right for the British Government to refuse to negotiate with the hostage takers because that would have made every contractor in Iraq a target ...

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Bollocks

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Every contractor in Iraq was, is and always will be a target. Negotiating for one poor sod's life would not have changed the status of other contractors one bit; but the justification sounds plausible if you don't think about it for too long. The Israelis negotiate with hostage takers all the time and they're not exactly regarded as being limp-wristed in these matters.

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A few other related thoughts from the day:

• No-one has categorically explained what kind of contract Ken Bigley was working on. You have to assume therefore that it was a miltary one. Eighteen months after the war and the US / UK still haven't returned Iraq's basic infrastructure to its shoddy pre-war status. A top tip for invading superpowers - don't splatter a country's utility services one week before you plan to occupy it and manage an orderly transition to democracy.
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• Most of the genuinely civilian contractors out there seem to be working on military installations or, for some reason, mobile phone masts. Then there are those other 'civilian' contractors who perform torture at hourly rates or ponce around with custom M16s (the cool looking ones with the collapsible stocks and integrated mortar launchers) and sunglasses, hoping to make the cover of Soldier of Fortune magazine. These goings on are unlikely to endear the locals to Westerners.
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• Negotiating with terrorists is a no-no but giving them wall-to-wall global coverage on BBC and Sky is fine. That makes a lot of sense doesn't it.
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• I almost choked at one point tonight when a BBC presenter said 'More on the execution of Ken Bigley in a moment but first let's catch up on the latest sports headlines.
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• It's been said many times before but why, why on why, does the BBC, SKY, CNN et al insist on sending out starkly blonde, horsey middle class women to Islamic hot spots as their anchor reporters? We're not talking the odd couple here and there, we're talking lots and lots. How much credibility do these women have when asked about what Iraqis are thinking on the streets of Baghdad? 'Well Roger, they all assume I'm a prostitute and spend most of their time trying to shag me because they think all Western women are sluts. When not trying to shag me they ignore me because I blatantly disregard the Islamic dress code'

That country is going to go tits up and we are eventually going to leave with our tails between our legs. The only question is how long till then and how many people will die getting there.