It's great that Ra Chaka is speaking about the Burge police torture cases. An issue that stretches back almost 30 years and deserves to be addressed at every public forum available.

But there's a direct connection between the CPD and Iraq war profiteers that makes the issue locally relevant. -- particuarly when the CPD has come increasingly under fire for the out of control behavior of elite units like the now disbanded Special Operations Squad - whose officers may have been trained by the mercenaries at Blackwater.

So, let's see if Jan calls for an investigation of thee interesting ties. Or will she, like Davidson be content to read about this in the Chicago Tribune.

And it's also ironic that there's evidence available documenting that the CPD has been actively collaborating since 2006 with defense giant Lockheed Martin and the USMC in developing the latest counter-insurgency surveillance and data base technology for the war in Iraq, despite the fact that the Chicago City Council adopted an antiwar resolution. A resolution apparently not worth the paper it was written on, if this is true.

But it's not suprising that evidence suggesting Chicago local authorities are materially contributing or profiting to the war effort might be seen as divisive -- and potentially embarrassing.