Some of you may remember a man named Fabrizio Quattrocchi (here's a hint: "Now I'll show you how an Italian dies!") The President of Italy, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, signed a decree this past week awarding him a posthumous "Medaglia d'Oro al Valor Civile" the "Gold Medal for Civic Valour", I believe.
James S. Robbins still has the best article out there explaining why this medal is very much deserved. For further enlightenment, this may help.
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Notice that the Sgrena woman, who was rescued in Iraq and then in the car that U.S. forces mistakenly shot up, has denounced the medal, calling Quattrocchi a "mercenary".
Which, in point of fact, he was by reasonable definitions of the term. This does not change the valid reasons for giving him the medal.
Ms. Sgrena is a Marxist whose real complaint is that Quattrocchi's bravery made her side of the conflict (let me be specific here: the Iraqi ex-Ba'athsts and al-Qaeda) look bad.
"The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on."
The use of private contractors in security roles is a fascinating and, I suspect, telling part of the war against Islamicism. 'Mercenaries' have been used before in history, of course, but these are citizens of the countries who also have a formal troop presence in Iraq. If the enemy is waging asymmetric warfare, in some sense perhaps the Blackwaters and men such as Quattrocchi represent our asymmetrical response - one that goes beyond state-state conflict and illustrates the civilizational dimension of the war on Islamacism.
Sgrena lost another occasion to shut the hell up.
Yes, the point here is not about what Quattrocchi did for a living or what, but about his last act of courage and defiance. That stands alone.