[Peace-discuss] blackwater accountability

[Chris Tuck]

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/12/2008128171042568691.html

US guards charged over Iraq deaths

   *The suspects had earlier handed themselves in
to a court in Utah [Reuters]
***

Five US security guards employed by the Blackwater firm have been charged
over the killings of at least 14 Iraqi civilians and injuries to 20 others
in a 2007 shooting in Baghdad.

In a 35-count indictment, the five men were charged with manslaughter,
attempt to commit manslaughter and weapons violations, the US justice
department said on Monday.

"The government alleges in the documents unsealed today that at least 34
unarmed Iraqi civilians, including women and children, were killed or
injured without justification or provocation by these Blackwater security
guards in the shooting at Nisoor Square," said Patrick Rowan, assistant
attorney-general for national security.

The five had handed themselves over at a federal court in Salt Lake City,
Utah, earlier on Monday.

A sixth Blackwater guard had already pleaded guilty to charges on December
5.

If convicted, the men face 10 years in prison for each manslaughter charge,
plus additional sentences for other charges.

The shooting by Blackwater's guards as they escorted a convoy of US
diplomats through Baghdad on September 16 2007, angered Iraqis and led US
officials to tighten controls on private security firms.

The shooting also enraged the Iraqi government, which wanted to put security
contractors under Iraqi legal jurisdiction.

*Identity protected*

The five men's identities and the nature of the charges against them had
been kept secret for more than a year, but were also released on Sunday.

They were named as Evan Liberty and Donald Ball, both 26-year-old former
marines; Dustin Heard, a 27-year-old ex-marine; Nick Slatten, 25, an ex-army
sergeant; and Paul Slough, a 29-year-old army veteran.

Paul Cassell, a Utah attorney on the defence team, said as the guards were
being heard: "We think it's pure and simple a case of self-defence ...
Tragically people did die."

  *IN VIDEO*

<http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/12/2008127101949400410.html>
Blackwater on trial<http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/12/2008127101949400410.html>

Khalid Ibrahim, a 40-year-old electrician who said his 78-year-old father,
Ibrahim Abid, died in the shooting, said: "The killers must pay for their
crime against innocent civilians.

"Justice must be achieved so that we can have rest from the agony we are
living in. We know that the conviction of the people behind the shooting
will not bring my father to life, but we will have peace in our minds and
hearts."

An Iraqi government spokesman said that they believed that the attack was
tantamount to deliberate murder.

Ali Al-Dabbagh told Al Jazeera that Baghdad would maintain the victims'
right to a fair trial and would not accept anything less than "normal
standards available in such cases".

*Decorated veterans*

The Blackwater guards are decorated war veterans who were contracted to
protect US diplomats in Iraq.

FBI investigators found in late 2007 that most of the deaths had been
unjustified and the incident created a furore about the perceived ability of
private guards to act with impunity in Iraq.

   *FBI investigators found that most of the 17 deaths in Baghdad had been
unjustified*  Blackwater said that the guards were returning fire after
their convoy was shot at in al-Nisoor Square.

The head of Blackwater appeared before the US congress shortly after the
incident, saying that the men acted responsibly.

The case has also been complicated because, at the time of the attack,
private contractors like Blackwater operated without any clear legal
oversight and it could be argued they did not have to answer either to Iraqi
or US laws.

Under the deal Blackwater had with the US government, it was allowed to
repair the vehicles involved in the attack before investigators saw them,
taking away key forensic evidence.


-- 
Chris Tuck
"People should not be afraid of their governments,
Governments should be afraid of their people."
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