There's been a lot of discussion of this "first blush" State Department 'report' about the Blackwater incident in Baghdad that largely absolves Blackwater of culpability. But look at the details of the Post piece and you'll see that "first blush" -- the State Department's wording -- is something of an understatement. As the Post puts it, "the report, by the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, details the events as described by Blackwater guards ..."

So this isn't a preliminary or initial report in any sense I'd recognize. It's a debrief taken the day of the incident from the guys who actually did the shooting.

I'm not sure how much it tells us that they largely absolve themselves of culpability.