in bold at the top:
>IRAQ: Fever Named After Blackwater
>By Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail*
>
>FALLUJAH, Mar 26 (IPS) – Iraqi doctors in al-Anbar province
>warn of a new disease they call “Blackwater” that threatens
>the lives of thousands. The disease is named after Blackwater
>Worldwide, the U.S. mercenary company operating in Iraq.

But further down one finds the following:

>What Iraqis now call Blackwater fever is really a well-known
>medical condition, and while it has nothing to do with
>Blackwater Worldwide, Iraqis in al-Anbar province have decided
>to make the connection between the disease and the lethal
>U.S.-based company which has been responsible for the death of
>countless Iraqis.

Lazy editing or sheer outright editorial incompetence or outright demagogic anti-Americanism on the part of IPS news your pick.

WMD

Two tips ThinkProgress:

1) Do better research so that you stop misidentifying individuals

2) Stop relying on dubious sources of information, like IPS.

ThinkProgress has really been off its game lately.

Well, that ship has sailed.

Morons.

Can we get an ‘Update: Whoops!’ on this if its true that this is not a local colloquialism after all?

From the article, it appears that although Iraqis may not have coined the term, they are using it in a wider sense to describe the endemic corruption of the occupation. This failure is personifed perfectly in the Blackwater mercenaries.

Relating Blackwater to a Disease is very appropriate.

Bush/Cheney/Blackwater
Hague Trials ‘09

“23 gold a turn for IRON!!!??? I WAS YOUR BEST MAN FERCHRISSAKES!!! HOPE YOU BUILT SOME CITY WALLS!!!”

And it usually gets pretty ugly when oil, aluminum, and uranium are thrown into the mix.

I still fire up Colonziation from time to time. Classic :)

By the bye, “blackwater fever” IS the name for a presentation of malaria:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_fever

Can we get an ‘Update: Whoops!’ on this if its true that this is not a local colloquialism after all?

Progressive integrity is important.

Hope not. Mental illnesses are terrible diseases happening to good people. And its stigmatizing enough for them, without having to be associated with criminals like Bush

Reminds me of that old strategy-game Civilization. At the end of the game you got a rating on how well you did, and how you would be remembered in history. I think the lowest was having a disease named after you

I loved that game. Over Easter Weekend at the folks house I made sure to install Colonization on my laptop. (John Adams on HBO has me on a huge Colonization kick)

Good catch. This means that the malaria has been around longer than the mercenary or “security” organization.

Perhaps the security organization named themselves after the malaria because they thought that would appear a bit more intimidating?

The disease is most prevalent in Africa and Asia. The patient suffers severe intravascular haemolysis — the destruction of red blood cells leading to kidney and liver failure. It also leads to black or red urination, and hence perhaps the new name ‘Blackwater’.

Lovely!

We’re winning hearts and minds alright. Livers and kidneys not so much.

“Hey, look at that happy guy dancing in the street because he was liberated and is being kept safe by the good people of Blackwater Worldwide … He must have Blackwater Fever!”.

- or -

Blackwater Fever: Catch It!

Reminds me of that old strategy-game Civilization. At the end of the game you got a rating on how well you did, and how you would be remembered in history. I think the lowest was having a disease named after you.

So, one day, all forms of mental illness will just be referred to as Bush Syndrome.