Dark Truth Exposed: East Palestine Rail Disaster, BOAC 707 Sabotage, Why people should start business in Lithuania, Best Strategy To Play Online Baccarat Games, Effects of Incontinence in Various Areas of Life, Conversations from the porch Episode 19 with Jack Heart &, Covert Operations In Vietnam: The Incomplete History of US-Norway Collaboration. Each step of the way, the U.S. legal system ensured that these men were given fair and just prosecutions. [72] A sixth Blackwater guard, Jeremy Ridgeway of California, struck a deal with prosecutors on December 4, 2008 and pleaded guilty to one count each of voluntary manslaughter, attempted manslaughter, and aiding and abetting,[72][3] and agreed to testify against the other five men. Bulk comes from private military companies of the Blackwater/Academi kind. A 20,000-strong mercenary army is being assembled in Poland. No wonder Russia formally issued an ultimatum on Tuesday, March 1, that it would target the hub of covert warfare. The Nisour Square massacre occurred on September 16, 2007, when employees of Blackwater Security Consulting (now Constellis), a private military company contracted by the US government to provide security services in Iraq, shot at Iraqi civilians, killing 17 and injuring 20 in Nisour Square, Baghdad, while escorting a U.S. embassy convoy. [33], Three Blackwater guards who witnessed the incident later said that they believed the shootings were unjustified. By Andrew Emett - August 16, 2019 1269 SOURCE NationofChange 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. Then one of his sisters children said that Ali was hurt. The incident happened at the height of the "military surge" ordered by the then President George W. Bush to bring the armed resistance against the occupation in Iraq under control. Dickinson says that the victims' families are likely to feel let down and abandoned by the U.S. government. [64], US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates testified before Congress that the Pentagon has sufficient legal authority to control its contractors, but that commanders lack sufficient "means and resources" to exercise adequate oversight. Then-Vice President Joe Biden held a press conference to tell the citizens of Iraq that they would not be abandoned. [9], Blackwater guards claimed that the convoy was ambushed and that they fired at the attackers in defense of the convoy. Mahde Shamke was 25 years old and driving a taxi to support his parents and siblings. If it is determined that one person was complicit in the wrongdoing, we would support accountability in that. 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. The Blackwater mercenaries were among the most flagrant killers in Iraq but hardly unique. Majid survived because he was on the passenger side of the car and was protected from most of the barrage of bullets. They then set off stun grenades to clear the scene. Witnesses described how the American men ambushed the civilians unprovoked, firing on Baghdad's Nisour Square with heavy gunfire and grenade launchers. He suffered from his wounds for over a year until he died from a brain injury. Mohammed was thrilled when the U.S. entered Baghdad years earlier in 2003. The man that just spoken to him was dead. (Iraqi police) or any of the local security forces fired back at them", the official continued. The men, all military veterans working in Iraq for the private security contractor Blackwater, were convicted of massacring 14 civilians in an unprovoked and unjustified rampage of gunfire and. It was chaotic. Who would hold party elites accountable to the values they proclaim to have? "On what basis did Trump depend on to release them? The efforts of the investigators, the prosecutors, and the men and women who supported them was immeasurable. ", Human Rights Watch says the pardons "show contempt for the rule of law.". [19] The three justifiable killings were those of the two passengers in the white Kia sedan and an unidentified Iraqi nearby. "These four individuals were given sentences ranging from 12 years to life imprisonment, including on charges of first-degree murder," spokesperson Marta Hurtado said in a statement. Each time the criminal charges were seemed lost, the U.S. Department of Justice told them they were not forgotten that we would continue to pursue the convictions of those who committed the crimes against them. It was an honor to represent these victims and their families. "[21] Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki harshly criticized the dismissal. Mohammed kept seeing the man on the ground next to him being fired upon as he lay dead. ", "After years of waiting, the victims finally saw justice served when these men were convicted," she said in an email. "[32] According to Blackwater vice-president Marty Strong, the convoy was hit with "a large explosive device" and "repeated small arms fire" which disabled a vehicle. Trump issued pardons for all four men on Tuesday. )[60], Baghdad resident Halim Mashkoor told AP Television News, "We see the security firms doing whatever they want in the streets. [41], On September 18, 2007, an Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman said Blackwater is "not allowed to operate anywhere in the Republic of Iraq". The headrest next to him where his sister sat had a bullet hole through it. We dont have ads, so we depend on our members 35,000 and counting to help us hold the powerful to account. It was his business partner who lay in the pool of blood and was repeatedly shot. About the author:Nauman Sadiq is an Islamabad-based geopolitical and national security analyst focused on geostrategic affairs and hybrid warfare in the Af-Pak and the Middle East regions. [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. Thats what lawyers do in the United States: We fight for those who cant fight for themselves. 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. They beat citizens and scorn them. Mohammed had not been shot. Rather than mitigating the suffering of Ukraines disenfranchised masses held hostage by the Zelensky regime, the self-styled champions of human rights are doing all they can to lure Russia into their bear trap project, a term borrowed from the Soviet-Afghan War of the eighties when Western regimes used Pakistans security forces and generous funding from the oil-rich Gulf States for providing guerrilla warfare training and lethal weaponry to Afghan jihadists to bleed the security forces of former the Soviet Union in the protracted war. [92] However, the court then found that the mandatory minimum sentences as applied to the defendants were unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishments, over the partial dissent of Judge Judith W. He saw the man next to him run. Slough, Liberty and Heard were convicted on multiple charges of voluntary and attempted manslaughter in 2014, while Slatten, who was the first to start shooting, was convicted of first-degree murder. [21]:116[22] The Blackwater commander, Jimmy Watson, had received an order to stand by and not leave the Green Zone upon reaching a checkpoint, but he made a "tactical decision" to advance to Nisour Square after waiting for a few minutes; upon informing the Blackwater Tactical Operations Center of this, he was ordered to return to the Green Zone. On January 31, 2009, the U.S. State Department notified Blackwater that it would not be renewing its security contract with the company. [56], On April 1, 2011, the Associated Press reported on Erik Prince's seven-hour testimony about what allegedly transpired. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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]". My clients assuredly feel ignored, mistreated, and used. He told NPR on Wednesday that he was shocked by Trump's pardons he himself had made trips to the U.S. to give testimony in the proceedings against the four. [45] Also, it is not clear whether the license revocation is permanent. October 22 2014, 9:58 a.m. A federal jury in Washington, D.C., returned guilty verdicts against four . 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. Three former employees of the US private military contractor once known as Blackwater were sentenced to 30 years in prison on Monday and a fourth received a life sentence . He despised Saddam Hussein and his oppressive and vindictive ways. The U.S. legal system, a pillar of fairness in the world, had worked. The Intercept is an independent nonprofit news outlet. When Blackwater security guard Nicholas Slatten was tried and convicted for murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, the U.S. legal system determined that he needed a new trial. Luckily, before his SUV was attacked, Mohammed, his sister, and their children had time to duck into the car. More were arriving in the backs of trucks. [71], In December 2008, the United States Department of Justice announced it was filing criminal charges against five of the Blackwater employees, and ordered them to surrender to the FBI. How is Eric Prince still breathing? [14], On October 2, 2007, the Democratic staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released a report stating that Blackwater USA guards had used deadly force weekly in Iraq and had inflicted "significant casualties and property damage". Russian Forces strike Ukrainian Armys Electronic Intelligence Center in Kiev Region. For us, for everyone. "I consider what the security company personnel have done is a terrorist act, as many civilians were martyred and wounded," said Hashem, 41, a father of five who was partially disabled and forced to retire after the incident. "[51][52][53], On January 19, 2008, The New York Times reported that the contractor responsible for many of the deaths in the engagement, previously known only as "turret gunner no. Blackwater and its employees had been given immunity from any criminal or civil exposure in Iraq that was part of Princes contract with the State Department. Mohammed could see other cars being shot. The Blackwater incident cost the American military in the Middle East a lot more, experts interviewed by RT believe. [43], The Private Security Company Association of Iraq, in a document last updated on July 3, 2007, listed Blackwater as not having a license to operate in Iraq despite their attempts to apply for one. Dickinson says the great expense that the FBI put into the prosecution of the case has now come to nothing. [14] The Iraqi government vowed to punish Blackwater. 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. Blackwater mercenaries committed a massacre. Erik Prince, chair of the Prince Group LLC and Blackwater USA, holds up a picture showing the effect of a car bomb while testifying during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on Capitol Hill Oct. 2, 2007 in Washington, D.C. Mohammed was going to visit his sister and her children. Machine gunfire would cause his lifeless body to shake in his pool of blood. "I'm really shocked. "Pardoning them contributes to impunity and has the effect of emboldening others to commit such crimes in the future. "Paul Slough and his colleagues didn't deserve to spend one minute in prison," Brian Heberlig, a lawyer for Slough, told The Associated Press. But its the much more subtle and insidious tactic of economic warfare for which Russia has no antidote, as the global neocolonial order is being led by the United States and its Western European clients since the signing of the Bretton Woods Accord in 1945 following the Second World War. [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. Nassar Hamza was 67 years old when he was shot and wounded in the arm. Since the harrowing Nisour Square massacre in Baghdad in 2007, the Blackwater private military contractor, renamed as Academi in 2011 and becoming a subsidiary of Constellis Group following a merger with Triple Canopy in 2014, has built quite a business empire for itself. In this 2007 video, witnesses shed light on the killing of 17 Iraqis by American contractors in Baghdad.Read the article here: http://nyti.ms/1u1cNzySubscrib. I am overwhelmed with emotion at this fantastic news.. The My Lai massacre took place on 16 March 1968. [37], Blackwater, which had been operating in Iraq without an Iraqi government license, applied for one after the incident, but the application was rejected by Iraqi officials in January 2009. Mohammed would look to see what was happening. What takes place doesnt mention Russian soldiers but others preventing citizens from escaping. Mohammed and his sister screamed for their children to get down. IE 11 is not supported. The aide also said that the Iraqi government was pushing for an apology, compensation for victims or their families and for the guards involved in the shooting to be held "accountable". Their route home was through Nisour Square. Mohammed knew his sons injuries were fatal, but he had to try. [78] The opinion elaborated "the government failed to establish that the Iraqi witnesses it presented to the second grand jury were not in any way influenced by their previous exposure to the defendants' compelled statements. Everything was eerily quiet. And it will be a success, Im sure. But unsurprisingly, he did not describe who those thousands of daredevil volunteers willing to sacrifice lives and limbs in a foreign war were. They could not do anything for him. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq increasingly relied on private contractors, Blackwater being only the most infamous. AP U.S. military reports appear to corroborate the Iraqi government's contention that Blackwater was at fault in the incident. The Iraqi government and Iraqi police investigator Faris Saadi Abdul stated that the killings were unprovoked. A. Mohammed turned his bullet-riddled SUV around and drove back to the closest hospital only a few blocks behind him. [70] A second civil lawsuit filed jointly by the families of six victims against Blackwater was settled on January 6, 2012 for an undisclosed sum. Trump Just Pardoned Those Convicted Killers", "Pardons in killings of Iraqi civilians stir angry response", "Chief of Blackwater Defends His Employees", "Tracing the Paths of 5 Who Died in a Storm of Gunfire", "Blackwater Execs Remain Free as Guards Convicted for Killing 14 Iraqis in Massacre", Use of white phosphorus by the United States, United States and the International Criminal Court, A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq, "The wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time", AfghanIraqi Freedom Memorial (Salem, Oregon), The Iraq War: A Historiography of Wikipedia Changelogs, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nisour_Square_massacre&oldid=1141803510, Violent non-state actor incidents in Asia, People convicted of murder by the United States federal government, Pages using embedded infobox templates with the title parameter, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 22:05. In fact, private military contractors in close coordination and consultation with covert operators from CIA and Western intelligence agencies are not only training Ukraines conscript forces in the use of caches of Stingers and Javelins provided by Germany and the rest of the European nations as military assistance to Ukraine but are also directing the whole defense strategy of Ukraine by taking an active part in combat operations in some of the most hard-fought battles against Russias security forces north of Kyiv and at Kharkiv and Donbas. Who would be responsible for the myopic and vindictive policy of providing anti-aircraft munitions to Ukraines irregular militias once Kyiv falls and those MANPADS are found in black markets posing a grave risk to civilian airlines across the globe? Victims were everywhere. 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. As shootings in the square were not uncommon, it is unclear whether the shells were from the shooting in question or from other incidents. Ali was slumped over against the glass. But Trump reached a peace agreement with the Taliban and then lost the re-election bid before he could consider the bizarre proposal. The traffic circle, Nisour Square, was only a block away from one of the main entrance gates to Baghdads Green Zone. security contractors who had previously been sentenced over the death of 17 Iraqi civilians in the 2007 Nisur Square massacre . He was shot through the roof of his car as the Blackwater convoy drove past firing down into traffic. A burnt car at the site where Blackwater guards opened fire on a crowd in Baghdad, Iraq, in 2007. An initial prosecution was thrown out by a federal judge sparking outrage in Iraq but the then vice-president, Joe Biden, promised to pursue a fresh prosecution, which succeeded in 2015. A rocket grenade was fired into the car next to him. I sued Blackwater, its founder Erik Prince, and the four men who were convicted of murder, manslaughter, or weapons charges in a civil lawsuit filed in North Carolina, the home of Blackwaters headquarters and training facility in Moyock. "How are. The U.N. Human Rights Office says it's "deeply concerned" by the pardons. Six of my Blackwater brethren contractors are on the helicopter going to Tikrit. "Trump pardons Blackwater contractors jailed for massacre of Iraq civilians", 23 December 2020. Hassan Salman is among the Iraqis who were shot during the ambush. Paul Dickinson is a lawyer who represented six Iraqi families in a civil lawsuit against Blackwater and its founder, Erik Prince (who is the brother of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos). 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. The four armored vehicles drove away. The hospital was too busy. Convoy Attacked in Baghdad, Sparking a Shootout", "3 Blackwater Guards Called Baghdad Shootings Unjustified", "Blackwater Denies Any Wrongdoing in Shooting Incident (Update1)", "Iraqi leader urges U.S. to cancel Blackwater contract", "Iraqi Investigators say Videotape Shows Blackwater Guards Fired Without Aggravation", "House Passes Bill That Would Hike Penalties for U.S. Security Contractors in Iraq", "Private Security Company Association Iraq", "Iraqi Government Disputes Blackwater USA's Version of Shooting", "Iraq battle was self-defense, security firm says", "FBI takes lead in probe over Blackwater crisis", "Blackwater most often shoots first, congressional report says", "Report: Blackwater Killings Unjustified", "From Texas to Iraq, and Center of Blackwater Case", No forensic match for ammo in Blackwater shooting, "The Associated Press: APNewsBreak: Blackwater founder questions FBI work", "Overcoming post-colonial myopia: A call to recognize and regulate private military companie"s, Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Army, "Wounded Iraqis: 'No one did anything' to provoke Blackwater", "Blackwater incident witness: 'It was hell', Family Members of Slain Iraqis Sue Blackwater USA for Deadly Baghdad Shooting, "Blackwater Verdict a U.S. 'Snub' of Iraqi Leader Nouri al-Maliki: Kayhan, Islamic Republic of Iran", "White House: Contractor bill would have 'intolerable' effects", "Blackwater settles Nisoor Square lawsuit", "5 Blackwater guards face manslaughter charges", "Blackwater Guard in Secret Deal to Testify in Massacre Case", "US judge sets trial in 2010 for Blackwater guards", "Appeals court revives Blackwater shooting case", "US judge dismisses charges in Blackwater Iraq killings", "Reopening of Blackwater Case Confuses Iraqi Victims", "Biden Says U.S. Will Appeal Blackwater Case Dismissal (Published 2010)", "ICD - Slough et al. Not a one! As many as 504 children, women and older men were killed by a US infantry company, members of which also raped numerous women and girls. But supporters of the military contractors, who argued the investigation was tainted and the punishments too severe, cheered the news. The Blackwater mess has roiled Capitol Hill and shined light on the many questions surrounding the legal status, management, oversight and accountability of the private military force in Iraq,. That notion has now been shown to be false, Dickinson says.
Shrek 2 Spanish Cast,
Criminal Vs Non Criminal Offenses,
Bette Nesmith Graham Interesting Facts,
Popsicle Stick Engineering Projects,
Articles B
