While Americans were breathing a sigh of relief over their waning fear of Ebola…..BAM! We have something else to clog the airways with endless hours of trivial bullshit…..the armed attack on Canada’s Parliament building…..the shooting was horrific….what followed afterwards is trivial filler.
But while you were sitting on the edge of your seat there was another news item that will be little reported.
The murder of Iraqi civilians by American mercenaries, oh my bad….American security consultants in 2007…….
.Four former Blackwater security contractors were convicted today in federal court for a 2007 mass shooting in Baghdad that left Iraqi civilians dead, the AP reports. (Some accounts cite an original death toll of 14, but the BBC notes that an Iraqi investigation later raised the total to 17; about the same number were injured.) Nicholas Slatten was found guilty of first-degree murder, while Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, and Dustin Heard were found guilty of voluntary manslaughter, attempted manslaughter, and gun charges. The defense had claimed its clients were acting in self-defense after insurgents and Iraqi cops shot at them, while prosecutors painted a picture of the guards having a “low regard and deep hostility toward Iraqi civilians,” as the AP describes it.
The defendants were ordered to jail immediately. Slatten faces life in prison and the others long stretches, but all are expected to appeal. On the day of the Sept. 16, 2007, shootings in Nisur Square, Blackwater guards were trying to clear the way for a State Department convoy before shots rang out, Reuters reports. There was “gunfire coming from the left, gunfire coming from the right,” as hundreds of Iraqi people in the square fled, a prosecutor said in closing arguments. The case incited Iraqi outrage and anti-American feelings around the world and made some question what rules government-employed security contractors had to follow overseas, Reuters notes. (Not surprisingly, Blackwater isn’t known as Blackwater anymore.)
I have been a very vocal opponent of these so-called private security companies, which in reality is a bunch of highly paid mercenaries….who act like they are not to be held accountable….that they are above the law.
There should be NO need for private security firms……it is solely to drive large profits to private hands.
These, especially Blackwater, are private armies…I am sure there should be some sort of constitutional thing concern this situation….
Anyway….did anyone see the movie 7 Days in May? Maybe you read the book? If not may I suggest that you do so and see what I am talking about…..okay?
They are indeed private armies. Blackwater, though, is small. G4S has 650,000 “employees.” 650,000 armed men.
Blackwater has tanks and planes and an intel division….scary thoughts in this time of privatization…
I was pleased to see this resurface and that they found at least four of the son-of-a-bitches guilty. This had disappeared from the face of nearly every news outlet that I thought they hadn’t gotten away with it
I am also pleased…..there have been some minor stories on Arabic websites….about time they are held responsible….but should not it be up to Iraq to decide their punishment?
I am pleased also but they were convicted in US Federal Court and unless Iraq applies for extradition, the punishment should be decided by the Court that convicts. That is not to say, the defendants could not be convicted in two courts or that Iraq could not be consulted on verdicts, in US Courts the families of victems have the right to express their views but no matter where the crimes are committed if the US Federal Court believes they have jurisdiction than it is up to other Courts to argue against that.
At least there is some guilty verdicts and while not perhaps fair, at least set precedent. dru
Now will the families try to get restitution from Blackwater….sine these killers were acting on behalf of the corporation….I think they should take the bastards to court…..chuq
OOPs again, at least there ARE some……
You think they could make a better jkeyboard, huh? LOL
I really don’t know if they can, sue Blackwater that is but I’d sure like to see that happen. Again, I believe it would probably need the be in a US Court but I’m not sure about that.
Also it might be able to be combined into a class action one, I doubt Iraq, the country or its government, could bring it for themselves but possibility as an agent for the families but that also raises possibilities. However if either of those scenarios were to actually happen, good luck to the families actually receiving the compensation.
Also it requires the participation of those that Shakespeare would have killed first.
dru
I agree any civil suit would face a steep uphill battle…..