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Recent Appearances...

Iraq

Iraq’s Blackwater victims plan to sue Trump

2021-01-03

[Rudaw] Victims and families of Iraqi civilians who were killed by the American Blackwater security company in Baghdad in 2007 plan to sue outgoing US President Donald Trump

...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons......
who last month granted pardons for the convicted killers, victims told Rudaw this week.

"The decision to release these criminals was wrong. Such a decision should not be made. Where is the international community and human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty...
[groups] on this decision?" asked Jassim Mohammed, who at the time was working as a courier for the Iraqi Interior Ministry and was injured in the incident.

"We, the injured and families of the deaders, have agreed to hire a lawyer to sue Trump in international courts for releasing the criminals," he said.

In Baghdad’s Nisour Square in September 2007 a boom-mobile went kaboom! near a US diplomat, who was under the protection of Blackwater, a privately-owned military company now known as Academi. A team was sent to evacuate the official when four contractors opened fire, indiscriminately shooting at people trying to escape or take cover, according to court documents.

Fourteen people were killed and at least 17 injured in the massacre. Mohammed was hit in the head and barely survived.

The security firm was banned from Iraq in 2009 and the perpetrators were put on trial back in the US. Nicholas Slatten was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder. Three others, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, and Dustin Heard, were found guilty of voluntary and attempted manslaughter.

All four were pardoned by Trump as part of a wider wave of clemencies on 22 December.

Saeed Haydar is the uncle of one of the casualties. He was a witness at the Blackwater trial in the US.

"All of us, who were listed as witnesses, went to bear witness. Definitely, most of the witnesses accused the Blackwater company. But what was the use? If an American is killed, would the US be silent? It is really unfortunate for our government to be silent," he told Rudaw.

Following the pardons, the Iraqi foreign ministry said the Trump administration "did not take into account the seriousness of the crime committed" when making its decision.

The ministry said it will use "diplomatic channels to urge it [the US] to reconsider this decision."

United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
experts on Wednesday condemned the pardons as an "affront to justice."

The victims said they don’t expect their court case will succeed, but they hope it will at least grant them some emotional relief.

It looks like everyone will be content with the result.

Link

International-UN-NGOs

Trump pardon of Blackwater Iraq contractors violates international law: UN

2020-12-31

I’m pretty sure President Trump does not agree.

[AlAhram] 'Pardoning the Blackwater contractors is an affront to justice and to the victims of the Nisour Square massacre and their families,' said the UN working group on the use of mercenaries in a statement.

US President Donald Trump

...The man who was so stupid he beat fourteen professional politicians, a former tech CEO, and a brain surgeon for the Republican nomination in 2016, then beat The Smartest Woman in the World in the general election...
's pardon of four American men convicted of killing Iraqi civilians while working as contractors in 2007 violated US obligations under international law, UN human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty...
experts said on Wednesday.

Nicholas Slatten was convicted of first-degree murder, while Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard were convicted of voluntary and attempted manslaughter, over the incident in which US contractors opened fire in busy traffic in a Baghdad square and killed 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians.

The four contractors, who worked for the private security firm Blackwater owned by the brother of Trump's education secretary, were included in a wave of pre-Christmas pardons announced by the White House.

"Pardoning the Blackwater contractors is an affront to justice and to the victims of the Nisour Square massacre and their families," said Jelena Aparac, chair of the UN working group on the use of mercenaries, said in a statement.
Perhaps Jelena needs sanctions and a ban on travel to the US
The Geneva Conventions oblige states to hold war criminals accountable for their crimes, even when they act as private security contractors, the UN experts said.

"These pardons violate US obligations under international law and more broadly undermine humanitarian law and human rights at a global level."

By allowing private security contractors to "operate with impunity in armed conflicts", states will be emboldened to circumvent their obligations under humanitarian law, they said.

The pardons were strongly criticised by many in the United States. General David Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, respectively commander of US forces and US ambassador in Iraq at the time of the incident, called Trump's pardons "hugely damaging, an action that tells the world that Americans abroad can commit the most heinous crimes with impunity".

In a statement announcing the pardons, the White House said the move was "broadly supported by the public" and backed by a number of Republican politicians.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Ex-Blackwater contractor found guilty in 2007 Iraq shooting

2018-12-21

[Rudaw] A former Blackwater security contractor was convicted Wednesday of murder at his third trial in the 2007 shooting of unarmed civilians in Iraq.

Nicholas Slatten, 35, of Sparta, Tennessee, was found guilty of first-degree murder in Washington for his role in the shooting, which strained international relations and drew intense scrutiny of the role of American contractors in the Iraq War.

Prosecutors charged that Slatten was the first to fire shots in the September 2007 massacre that killed 14 Iraqi civilians at a crowded traffic circle in Baghdad. They alleged that Slatten was unprovoked when he opened fire, first killing 19-year-old Ahmed Haithem Ahmed Al Rubia’y, who was driving his mother to an appointment, prosecutors said.

In all, 10 men, two women and two boys, ages 9 and 11, were killed. Eighteen others were maimed.

The defense has argued that Slatten and other Blackwater contractors opened fire only after Al Rubia’y’s sedan, seen as a potential suicide boom-mobile, began moving quickly toward their convoy. After the shooting stopped, no evidence of a bomb was found.

In 2014, a jury convicted Slatten and three other contractors ‐ Paul Alvin Slough, Evan Shawn Liberty and Dustin Laurent Heard‐ who were part of a four-vehicle convoy that was protecting State Department personnel in the area. An appeals court had overturned that conviction, saying he should have been tried separately from three other men.

Slatten was retried last summer, but a mistrial was declared after the jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict.

The appeals court had ordered that Slatten’s co-defendants be resentenced, and Slough, Liberty and Heard all remain in jug and are awaiting resentencing, prosecutors said. Slatten’s sentencing date has not yet been set.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Blackwater guard's murder conviction thrown out, new sentences for co-defendents

2017-08-05

This would not have been possible under either President Obama or President Hillary Clinton.

[DW] Former Blackwater security contractor Nicholas Slatten has had his first-degree murder conviction overturned by a federal appeals court. Nicholas Slatten was involved in the 2007 slaying of 14 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad.

Four Blackwater security contractors sentenced for their part in a 2007 massacre in Baghdad will have their sentences revised, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled on Friday, while former guard Nicholas Slatten saw his life sentence overturned.

The federal appeals court found that Slatten should have been trialed separately from his three co-defendants in 2014. Prosecutors had maintained that Slatten had fired the first shots at a crowded traffic circle in the Iraqi capital, ultimately leading to the deaths of 14 unarmed civilians and a life sentence for his role in the killings.

However,
Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried...
the appeals court ruled that Slatten should be able to present new evidence at a new trial that one of his colleagues had in fact opened fire.

The federal prosecution's case against Slatten "hinged on his having fired the first shots, his animosity toward the Iraqis having led him to target (their vehicle) unprovoked," the appeals court panel of judges said. However,
Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried...
subsequent statements made by an unnamed co-defendant admitting that that he had fired the first shot "strike at the heart of that theory and instead point to the co-defendant, not Slatten."

New sentences for Blackwater co-defendants
The three other Blackwater contractors involved in the massacre - Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard - will also receive new sentences. The court on Friday found that their mandatory 30-year sentences had violated the constitutional prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. Federal prosecutors had charged the men with using military arms while committing another felony - a statute generally employed against gang members or bank robbers, which had never been used against government security contractors.

The court also dismissed Liberty's attempted manslaughter convictions. His attorney, Bill Coffield, said they would review the available options. "Obviously we're pleased with the court's decision in terms of the unconstitutionality of the sentence," he said.

Heard's attorney, David Schertler, said in a statement that his client was entitled to a new trial, writing that "we are gratified that the court recognized the gross injustice of the 30 year mandatory minimum sentences imposed in the unique war zone circumstances of this case."

A front man for the US attorney's office said it was still reviewing the decision and no immediate comment.

Unanswered questions
The four former Blackwater contractors were sentenced in 2014 following a weeks-long trial in which the prosecution and defense presented contrasting versions of what triggered the slaying.

Federal prosecutors presented the massacre as a one-sided ambush on a group of unarmed civilians, while the defense claimed that the guards only opened fire after a potential boom-mobile began speeding towards their convoy, which was trying to clear a path for US diplomats. After the shooting, no evidence of a boom-mobile was ever found.

The incident stood out for its brutality, even as Iraq found itself in the midst of a violent sectarian war. In the US, it sparked fierce debate over the role of private contractors in war zones.

Since the ruling, Blackwater has been sold and is now operating as Virginia-based Academi.

Related article and comments from Feral Jundi

Link

Home Front: WoT

Blackwater guards found guilty in 2007 Iraq shootings

2014-10-23

A US jury has returned guilty verdicts for all four former Blackwater security guards charged in the 2007 shootings of more than 30 Iraqis in Baghdad.

The jury in Washington found Nicholas Slatten guilty of first-degree murder. The three other three guards -- Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard -- were found guilty of voluntary manslaughter.

The four men were charged with a combined 33 counts in the shootings. The jury had reached verdicts on only part of the charges, but Judge Royce Lamberth allowed them to announce the verdicts on Wednesday that they had reached. The jury is expected to continue deliberating on the other counts.

Link

Iraq

Defense Rests in Black Water Trial

2014-08-26

WASHINGTON (AP) Four Blackwater security guards have rested their defense in the shootings that killed or wounded over 30 Iraqis seven years ago in Baghdad.

Closing arguments will be later this week in the prosecution of the four guards. Three are charged with voluntary manslaughter and attempted manslaughter Paul Slough, Dustin Heard and Evan Liberty. A fourth, Nicholas Slatten, is charged with first-degree murder.

The trial in Washington began more than two months ago and prosecutors concluded their case last week. Defense lawyers for the four who are charged called only a handful of witnesses.

The prosecution's case was based largely on the testimony of former Blackwater guards who were colleagues of the four men who were indicted. The defense team said the shootings were in self-defense.

Link

Iraq

US to drop charges against one Blackwater guard

2009-11-22

[Al Arabiya Latest] U.S. Justice Department prosecutors asked a federal judge on Friday to dismiss the charges against one of five Blackwater security guards accused of killing 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians in a 2007 shooting in Baghdad.

In a brief court notice, prosecutors said they filed a motion to dismiss the indictment against Nicholas Slatten of Sparta, Tennessee, but they also said they requested the ability to possibly refile the charges later.

Slatten was one of five men charged in December last year with 14 counts of manslaughter, 20 counts of attempt to commit manslaughter and one weapons violation count over the shooting that outraged Iraqis and strained relations between the two countries.

Except that Blackwater was clever enough to have taped the entire encounter, which revealed their men responded to an attack, they didn't start it. One assumes that of course the other charges will be dropped in the very near future. One wonders how much business the company picked up from customers reassured that their people would not be put at risk to comply with ridiculous rules of engagement...

Link

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