Explained: Why Trump's pardon to Blackwater contractors is Black Water is a 2007 Australian horror film written and directed by Andrew Traucki and David Nerlich. Legislation now working its way through Congress would resolve some of the gaps in the law, and hold all US private security contractors subject to criminal sanctions for felonies committed abroad. US: Close Legal Loopholes Allowing Contractors to Act with Impunity, Letter to US Rep. David Price (D-NC) in Support of Accountability for US Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, Ukraine: Izium Apartment Victims Need Justice, Indian Girls Alleged Rape and Murder Sparks Protests, Joint Statement: UAE Human Rights Record Ahead of COP28, Video: Violence and Rape by Zimbabwe Gov't Forces After Protests. No! [77] "Prosecutors should therefore have built their case against the men without them", a BBC report explained. Some of the counts resulted in a mistrial, but none of the defendants got an acquittal on any count. The logs depicted "a hectic eight minutes in which the guards repeatedly reported incoming gunfire from insurgents and Iraqi police". The report found that the guards fired their weapons 195 times from the beginning of 2005 through the second week of September 2005. [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. When Slatten was tried for a third time, the jury deliberated for five days before finding him guilty of first-degree murder in December 2018. As Raven 23 was departing Nisour Square, several members continued to discharge their weapons, causing additional civilian deaths and injuries. Recent episodes in U.S. 1:08 'Look at That Thing': Footage Shows. In the span of 20 minutes, 17 Iraqi people were killed and another 24 were left wounded. [15] The incident sparked at least five investigations, including one from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Blackwater has been one of the biggest recipients. Dec. 24, 2020 Mohammed Hafedh Abdulrazzaq Kinani with a photo of his 9-year-old son, Ali, who was killed by Blackwater. US pardons Blackwater guards: An 'affront to justice' - UN experts [87], On April 13, 2015, federal district judge Royce C. Lamberth sentenced Slatten to life in prison, while the other three guards were sentenced to 30 years in prison each. "It was a horror movie," said Khalaf, describing the aftermath of the now notorious Blackwater shootings. Another young man, 27-year-old Abu Hassam, suddenly became the head of his family just a week earlier, when on Sept. 9 his older brother was shot in front of the family's carpet shop -- in an incident also attributed to Blackwater. [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. A sixth guard, Jeremy Ridgeway, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with investigators, World reports. And he contended that the helicopters never fired on those below. [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". [100] UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Marta Hurtado said that forgiveness "contributes to impunity and has the effect of encouraging others to commit such crimes in the future". For a moment, it appeared as though Blackwater was going to be responsible for guarding the FBI agents, but the Bureau soon announced that the FBI agents would instead be guarded by "official personnel," rather than the very company that they were to be investigating. [32] In response to the guards' killing of the Iraqi policeman, other Iraqi police officers began to fire at the Blackwater men, who communicated to the State Department operations center that they were under attack. They were also contracted for personal protective services in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Haiti, Israel, and Palestine. Between 2004 and 2008, the State Department ended giving Blackwater more than $1 billion in contracts. 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. [14], On October 13, 2007, the FBI reported that it had concluded that at least 14 of the 17 Iraqis who died in the square had been killed without cause. "We were always together. The UN has sharply criticised President Donald Trump's decision to pardon four former Blackwater . Blackwater (2007) - IMDb An order issued by the Coalition Provisional Authority in its departing days and still in force gives foreign private contractors immunity under Iraqi law. [6][86] Bringing the weapons charges was disputed within the Justice Department, which initially opposed including them in the indictment. Raven 23's commander Jimmy Watson reportedly made the "tactical decision" to go to Nisour Square and block traffic for an evacuation route. A few token prosecutions of a handful of Blackwater employees will not be enough. [17], Just before noon on September 16, 2007, a car bomb exploded near the Izdihar Compound where US and Iraqi officials were meeting,[20]:547 and a 19-man Blackwater Tactical Support Team (TST) consisting of a convoy of four trucks, answering to the call sign "Raven 23", took up positions on the south side of Nisour Square to secure an evacuation route for the US officials and another Blackwater team providing security for them. [59] (The Protocol makes no distinction between defensive and offensive actions, but the U.S. does make such a distinction, in that it does not regard defensive actions by security guards to be combat. And in 80% of the cases, Blackwater guards were the ones firing first. Adrienne Ballenger . No!" [54] He received an honorable discharge in 2002 and then enlisted in the Texas National Guard. [47], The U.S. State Department said it planned to investigate what it called a "terrible incident". 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. "I thought I was dying.". Blackwater guards were also known for driving on the wrong side of the road and crashing into civilian cars. [99], Clemency caused outrage among Iraqi citizens and family members of the victims. The Intercept reports that others who tried to run for cover were killed by machine gunfire. "Everyone loved him. If successful, it will be the first time the US government has held private security contractors criminally liable for abusive behavior directed at Iraqis. The BBC reports that during Slatten's second trial in 2018, a mistrial was declared after the jury deliberated for 16 days. Khalaf's observations are backed up by official accounts, including leaked FBI findings, which concluded that at least 14 of the 17 shooting deaths were unjustified, and statements by military. [24] The driver of the Kia was shot once in the head by a Blackwater contractor and was killed. After the September 11th attacks, Blackwater expanded their security-related work and followed the U.S. military into Afghanistan. and thus prosecution by U.S. The report found that the use of contractors such as Blackwater was a "new form of mercenary activity" and illegal under international law; however, the United States is not a signatory of the 1989 UN Mercenary Convention banning the use of mercenaries. The Nisour Square massacre was one of the lowest episodes of the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq. [29] Several sources have stated that the explosion was caused by a mortar round, though this is not reflected in the State Department's incident report. The FBI also concluded that there was no evidence to support Blackwater's claims that they'd been fired upon by Iraqi civilians. [29] The banning was described by P. W. Singer, an expert on the private military industry, as "inevitable", given the US government's reliance on and lack of oversight of the private military industry in Iraq. Human Rights Watch reports that some helicopters above ever started shooting at the street below. "Blackwater": the major crimes of the most famous American PMCs [50], On October 4, 2007, U.S. military reports indicated Blackwater's guards had opened fire without provocation and used excessive force. Initially, they worked providing training support to law enforcement and the justice department, but as Prince once stated, their "corporate goal [was] to do for the national security apparatus what FedEx did to the postal service." [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. The New York Times reports that when Richter confronted Daniel Carroll, Blackwater's Iraq project manager, about this on August 21, 2007, Carroll became incredibly aggressive and told Richter "that he [Carroll] could kill me [Richter] at that very moment and no one could or would do anything about it as we were in Iraq. [9], Blackwater guards claimed that the convoy was ambushed and that they fired at the attackers in defense of the convoy. Other ways to share Opinion | Trump's Most Disgusting Pardons - The New York Times Prosecutors argued the men did not face hostile gunfire when they began shooting, and continued to shoot despite the lack of threats. The Blackwater guards also shot at cars, taxis, and buses. The Iraq government's own investigation found no evidence that the guards had been provoked or attacked, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's spokesperson called the shootings "deliberate murder.". [28] Nicholas Slatten was found guilty of first-degree murder, and Slough, Liberty and Heard were found guilty of voluntary and attempted manslaughter charges, and of using a machine gun to commit a violent crime. [38] Waxman stated that "the controversy over Blackwater is an unfortunate demonstration of the perils of excessive reliance on private security contractors.
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