The Courage of His Convictions

Stephen Vincent, a journalist and war hawk, was killed in Iraq. He was abducted by armed insurgents in a police car, along with his interpreter, and was found shot to death in Basra.

While he was a hawk, Vincent was no right-wing toadie or flack for the Bush Administration. His blog, In the Red Zone, documents his experiences living and working in the most dangerous parts of Iraq.

Brad DeLong, no fan of the Bush Administration or the Iraq War, had this to say about the author:

He was another of the mad dreamers of the last few years who confused hopes with plans, but he stood head and shoulders above his fellows, first for his courage, secondly for his absolute refusal to start moving goalposts. He saw the liberation of Iraq as the great cause of his day. So rather than sit home and talk to anonymous bureaucrats or retype governent press releases, he went to Iraq, twice. His great passion was women's rights, in the Arab world generally and Iraq in particular. He is dead because he refused to trim his sense of justice to fit the latest fashions in colonial PR - on the ground in Basra, he reported the facts as he found them, blowing the whistle on Allied accomodation to theocracy and the increasing oppression of Iraq's women.

Yes, this journalist supported the war from the start, but as DeLong says, he was 'head and shoulders above his fellows.' He was no Limbaugh loudmouth or Corner flack. He lived among the danger and exposed the rising theocracy in Iraq, the erosion of women's rights, and the incredible failure of the Administration to plan for a post-war Iraq. He will be missed. More hawks need to have the courage of their convictions, as this man did.
(Crossposted by Bostondreamer at FloridaBlues)