Ever since I read Noah Shachtman’s nicely done article about Iraq earlier this week, I’ve been checking out his blog, Danger Room (three cheers for the Uncanny X-Men.)

He’s got some interesting posts up.

1) He checks the numbers on the specifics of the U.S. counterinsurgency effort—the plan to sign up and use Iraqi police … or “Alligators” as they’re called (because of their Izod shirts). I could use a little more context on the numbers, but here’s a summary:

The Concerned Local Citizens, volunteer auxiliary police forces established to secure local communities, have sprung up over much of Iraq since the onset of the surge. Concerned Local Citizens groups are currently active in 12 of Iraq’s 18 provinces. Over 72,000 members are active in the ranks, with over 60,000 on paid contract and 12,000 volunteers.

A link he posts has more in-depth details.

2) And then there’s this: Pro baseball players aren’t the only ones with steroid problems. Controversial military contractor, Blackwater, may operate under the influence too:

It seems that 2007 will go down in history as the year of artificial performance enhancers. In the world of sports, you’ve got guys like Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds. In the military realm, you’ve got Blackwater. That’s right, just when it seemed the questions that surround private military contracting couldn’t get more simultaneously odd and disturbing, Blackwater (the company involved in the September shootings in Baghdad, which left 17 Iraqi civilians dead) has been sued by the victims’ families for, among other things, sending heavily-armed “shooters” into the streets of Baghdad with the knowledge that some of these “shooters” are chemically influenced by steroids and other “judgment-altering substances.”

The lawsuit, aided by the non-profit Center for Constitutional Rights based in Washington, claims not just that the civilians were killed by Blackwater employees, but that the company was responsible as it “created and fostered a culture of lawlessness amongst its employees, encouraging them to act in the company’s financial interests at the expense of innocent human life.” Most recently, the plaintiffs asserted that “Blackwater knew that 25% or more of its “shooters were injecting steroids or other judgment altering substances, yet failed to take effective steps to stop the drug use.”