[6][86] Bringing the weapons charges was disputed within the Justice Department, which initially opposed including them in the indictment. I know that each of them placed great faith in the U.S. legal system. An ambulance was called, and Ali and Mohammad were rushed to the other side of town. That may be the overriding damage caused by these pardons. [3][84] Prosecutors stated they reached their decision after an "assessment of the admissible evidence against him". Because any state, particularly those pursuing socialist policies, that dares to challenge the Western monopoly over global trade and economic policies is internationally isolated and its national economy goes bankrupt over a period of time. [42] A spokesman stated that the ban would last for the duration of the investigation, and that it would not be permanent. and thus prosecution by U.S. A. The U.N. Human Rights Office says it's "deeply concerned" by the pardons. Boslego also said the attack had a negative effect on our mission, [an] adverse effect It made our relationship with the Iraqis in general more strained.. Before embarking on the clandestine Kyiv visit, Erik Prince consulted with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Director National Intelligence Avril Haines, with whom his relationship goes a long way the back to the early nineties after she purchased a bar in Fells Point, Baltimore, which had been seized in a drug raid. Why Is Assange in Jail and Not Seymour Hersh? Trumps pardon of the Blackwater mercenaries who murdered 14 Iraqi civilians at Nisour Square shows the world what justice means in the United States. On Tuesday, President Trump pardoned four former Blackwater contractors convicted in the killings. His domains of expertise include neocolonialism, military-industrial complex, and petro-imperialism. [50], On October 4, 2007, U.S. military reports indicated Blackwater's guards had opened fire without provocation and used excessive force. Luckily, before his SUV was attacked, Mohammed, his sister, and their children had time to duck into the car. [24] The driver of the Kia was shot once in the head by a Blackwater contractor and was killed. When Mohammed saw the convoy enter the traffic circle, he initially thought they were regular U.S. Army members. Among his clients were the parents of a 9-year-old boy who was killed as he sat in the back of his father's car. After the convictions, Blackwater which changed its name to Xe and then Academi after being sold said it was relieved that the justice system has completed its investigation into a tragedy that occurred at Nisour Square in 2007 and that any wrongdoing that was carried out has been addressed by our courts. [25][31], The account by the Blackwater firm differed from the Iraqi government's account; Blackwater's account stated the driver of the Kia sedan had kept driving toward the convoy, ignoring verbal orders, hand signals, and water bottles thrown at the car, and continued to approach even when fired upon. My clients assuredly feel ignored, mistreated, and used. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [45] Also, it is not clear whether the license revocation is permanent. The pardons have reduced American talk of human rights to mere "slogans," he said, adding, "They prefer animals over humans, and then they talk about human rights, justice and humanity. The pardons are one of several the US president has granted to American service personnel and contractors accused or convicted of crimes against non-combatants and civilians in war zones. Ghasson Mahmood was a 55-year-old civil engineer. The bullets rained through the roofs of cars, taxis and buses, he says. [79] Three weeks later, Vice President Joe Biden, who was overseeing U.S. policy in Iraq, promised Iraqi leaders the U.S. would appeal the dismissal of these charges. NPR reports that sometime after the Al-Qaeda bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen in October 2000, where 17 sailors were killed, Blackwater won a $46 million contract from the U.S government for "training sailors in counterterrorism." After the September 11th attacks, Blackwater expanded their security-related work . In the sheer desperation to inflict maximum material damage to Russias security forces, however, NATO appears to have breached its own long-standing convention of curbing the proliferation of anti-aircraft munitions. Iraqi authorities say 17 people were killed; the Department of Justice has said the total was 14. The Machiavellian plan of NATOs military strategists is to establish refugee settlements with the humanitarian assistance in the border regions of Ukraines neighboring countries Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria, and then provide guerrilla warfare training and lethal arms to all able-bodied men of military age in order to bleed Russias security forces in the protracted irregular warfare. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater and the Unsung Heroes of the, at the best online prices at eBay! The Intercept is an independent nonprofit news outlet. Why did it happen? [9], Blackwater guards claimed that the convoy was ambushed and that they fired at the attackers in defense of the convoy. The expense was to show the people of Iraq that the U.S. government would hold people accountable for their crimes, no matter when or where they were committed. ", Trump Grants Slew Of Pardons, Including To George Papadopoulos And Duncan Hunter, Blackwater Guards Found Guilty In 2007 Shootings In Iraq, Lawyer For Victims' Families On Trump Pardoning 4 Former Blackwater Contractors. These convictions happened under the Obama Administration. There are numerous reported incidents of mass murder conducted by US soldiers, special forces. Slattern was sentenced to life and the others to 30 years in prison each. Mohammed was glad Saddams reign of terror was finally ending. Abraham Al Mafrage was a 70-year-old farmer and father of seven who was also shot in the head and died that day. ", "After years of waiting, the victims finally saw justice served when these men were convicted," she said in an email. Sequence of events triggering the Nisour Square massacre, Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, Private Security Company Association of Iraq, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security, Inspector General of the U.S. State Department, United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, "U.S. They are coming to defend freedom, defend life. Prince strongly criticized the way in which federal authorities had handled the investigation and disputed the claims that U.S. or Blackwater personnel were to blame for the shootings. He was in the car next to Mohammed. [81] A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found "systemic" errors in the district court's 2009 decision to dismiss charges against the five former Blackwater guards and added "We find that the district court's findings depend on an erroneous view of the law". WaPo says, 'Investigators for the military and the FBI later described . . The Blackwater mercenaries were among the most flagrant killers in Iraq but hardly unique. Pepe Escobar (@RealPepeEscobar) March 1, 2022. In 2013, Academi subsidiary International Development Solutions received an approximately $92million contract for State Department security guards. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Are they going to release me?". "With those sentences reversed by the stroke of a pen, who will trust the American justice system again?". He was shot through the back with a massive exit wound in his chest. [6][85][86] Jurors sided with prosecutors' contention that the shooting was a criminal act, not a battlefield encounter gone wrong. [44] Blackwater's operations on behalf of the U.S. Department of State and the CIA may be unaffected by license revocation. This evidentiary use of tainted information constitutes yet another Kastigar violation. [16] The FBI investigation found that, of the 17 Iraqis killed by the guards, at least 14 were shot without cause. Paul Dickinson[emailprotected]farrin.com. The Nisour Square massacre was one of the most publicized US crimes of the 8-year Iraq war. On January 31, 2009, the U.S. State Department notified Blackwater that it would not be renewing its security contract with the company. Five were charged with 14 counts of manslaughter, 20 counts of attempted manslaughter and a weapons violation: Donald Ball, a former Marine from West Valley City, Utah; Dustin Heard, a former Marine from Knoxville, Tennessee; Evan Liberty, a former Marine from Rochester, New Hampshire; Nicholas Slatten, a former army sergeant from Sparta, Tennessee, and Paul Slough, an army veteran from Keller, Texas. When the Blackwater contractors were finally convicted seven years later in 2014, that was a sign of relief, but you needed political will for that. Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard were convicted six years ago in the killing of 14 Iraqi civilians and the wounding of 17 others. [41], On September 18, 2007, an Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman said Blackwater is "not allowed to operate anywhere in the Republic of Iraq". However, after "Raven 23" entered Nisour Square, Watson was ordered to "lock down the traffic circle to expedite the travel of [the other Blackwater team]". Although the Pentagons military contractors have been known to be training and advising several brigades of neo-Nazis backed by Ukraines security forces in the Donbas region since 2014, Erik Prince along with his associates from several other private security firms providing military contractors to the US Department of Defense personally visited Kyiv early last month following the Russian troop build-up and met with security officials of the Zelensky regime, according to informed sources. Volodymyr Zelenskyreassured his compatriots[2] yesterday: Ukraine is already welcoming foreign volunteers who are coming to our country. When Mohammed opened the door, his son fell toward him as his skull opened and a large part of Alis brain fell onto the pavement between his fathers feet. When the first indictments were dismissed on New Years Eve in 2009, they were told that the prosecutions would continue. But when the shooting started, his life and the lives of his entire family changed forever. Again, I knew my clients would be pleased to know that justice had been served and their rights had been protected. But he knew he was surviving as he kept yelling for the children in the back of his SUV to stay down. He could not understand what was happening or why. [21][75] In the memorandum opinion, Judge Urbina ruled the cases against Slough, Liberty, Heard, Ball, and Slatten had been improperly built on testimony given in exchange for immunity;[76] that evidence included statements the guards had been compelled to give to State Department investigators, and as these statements would have been self-incriminating, they could not be used as evidence under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Although Mohammed was going to return quickly with his sister and Alis cousins for a visit, Mohammed told his son that he could go with him. It was not an easy path in either the civil or criminal legal system. [62] After a group of Iraqi ministers backed the Iraqi Interior Ministry's decision to shut down Blackwater USA's operations in Iraq,[29] Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called on the U.S. government to end its contract with Blackwater[39] and called on Blackwater to pay the families $8million in compensation. Instead of returning the favor, however, the conceited leader of supposedly the worlds sole surviving superpower turned down the hand of friendship and even snubbed Putin. "They prefer animals over humans, and then they talk about human rights, justice and humanity," said an Iraqi man whose brother was among those killed in 2007. [14] The Iraqi government vowed to punish Blackwater. Survivors and victims' relatives of a 2007 shooting in Iraq by Blackwater contractors meet with United States prosecutors in Baghdad in 2008. [19] A Blackwater spokeswoman responded to the findings by saying Blackwater "supports the stringent accountability of the industry. Now justice has been undone by the stroke of a pen," Sarah Holewinski, the organization's Washington director, said in a statement. "These are four innocent guys, and it is completely justified," Bill Coffield, a lawyer for Evan Liberty, told the AP. "This was the slaughter of innocent civilians who were merely going about their day when a Blackwater convoy rolled through a traffic circle after having violated orders to stand down and not exit the Green Zone and began firing indiscriminately into cars that were carrying people going to work.". [41], Richard J. Griffin, the Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security, who made key decisions regarding the department's oversight of private security contractor Blackwater USA, resigned in November 2007, after a critical review by the House Oversight Committee found that his office had failed to adequately supervise private contractors during the Blackwater Baghdad shootings. [37], Henry Waxman, the chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which held hearings on the use of Private Security Contractors in February 2007, said his committee would hold hearings "to understand what has happened and the extent of the damage to U.S. security interests". [26][27] A U.S. Army convoy arrived at 12:39p.m., backed by air cover, to escort TST 22 back to the Green Zone. They would turn Blackwater into roadkill. They beat citizens and scorn them. The risk is now that the U.S., who has a presence worldwide, has exposure for how they might be treated or what people of other countries might think could happen or would happen if war crimes are committed by U.S. citizens abroad. In 2002, Blackwater received its first contract from the United States government. Their belief in our legal system was misplaced. "Trump pardons Blackwater contractors jailed for massacre of Iraq civilians", 23 December 2020. Depicting a doomsday scenario in order to malign Russias calculated offensive in Ukraine to minimize collateral damage, mainstream reporting focused today on thefire that broke out [1] at Zaporizhzhia plant, one of Europes largest nuclear power plants situated 550 km southeast of Kyiv.
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