The headrest next to him where his sister sat had a bullet hole through it. The hallways were full. After it was added, defense attorneys contended a 30-year sentence would be too severe, since the law was intended to deter gang members from carrying automatic weapons. [36] Several Iraqi and American investigations have been conducted into the incident. [101][102] The Iraqi Foreign Ministry urged the United States to reconsider, declaring the pardons "did not take into account the seriousness of the crime committed".[103]. "It was obviously excessive", a U.S. military official speaking on condition of anonymity told the Washington Post. However, the company was allowed to continue to operate in Iraq until January 2009 when the U.S.Iraq Status of Forces Agreement took effect. Former Blackwater guards sentenced for massacre of unarmed Iraqi The massacre resulted in the deaths of 17 unarmed Iraqis and wounded at least 20 others. That day changed my life forever. [82][20] On June 5, 2012, the US Supreme Court declined to review the Appeal Court ruling, allowing the trial to proceed. [93], On December 19, 2018, Slatten was found guilty of murder[94] and again was sentenced to life in prison on August 14, 2019. [54] He served one tour in Iraq before being hired as a Personal Security Specialist in Iraq. He was shot through the back with a massive exit wound in his chest. They beat citizens and scorn them. Again, the result was the civil legal system exhausting every defense afforded to Blackwater and the men. The pardons have reduced American talk of human rights to mere "slogans," he said, adding, "They prefer animals over humans, and then they talk about human rights, justice and humanity. Scores of Iraqis injured in anti-government protests in Baghdad, Who will protect us?: Baghdad residents wait out fighting as city grinds to halt, Iraqi cleric tells loyalists to return to their homes after fighting in Baghdad, Deadly violence in Baghdad after leading cleric Moqtada al-Sadr says he is quitting politics, Shia factions mass in Baghdad raising fears of more unrest, Protesters storm Iraq parliament again amid unrest over Iran-backed groups, Iran may eventually get its way in protracted power struggle in Iraq, Hundreds of protesters storm Iraq parliament in support of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, Briton jailed in Iraq for smuggling antiquities to be freed, says lawyer. What Is Blackwater? His mother also suffered a stroke, he added. They started out as a private security firm providing training support to law enforcement, the justice department, and military organizations and received their first contract from the United States government in 2000 after the bombing of the USS Cole. In 2013, Academi subsidiary International Development Solutions received an approximately $92million contract for State Department security guards. [99], Clemency caused outrage among Iraqi citizens and family members of the victims. [66] Howard Krongard, who was appointed Inspector General of the U.S. State Department in 2005,[67] resigned in December 2007 after he was accused by the House Oversight Committee of improperly interfering with investigations into the Blackwater Baghdad shootings. [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". 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. and thus prosecution by U.S. U.S. military reports appear to corroborate the Iraqi government's contention that Blackwater was at fault in the incident. "Victims of gross human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law also have the right to a remedy. [25], A State Department spot report published the same day as the incident stated that eight to ten attackers opened fire on Raven 23 "from multiple nearby locations, with some aggressors dressed in civilian apparel and others in Iraqi police uniforms" after the convoy had entered Nisour Square,[26] starting at 12:08p.m.[27] The report added that another Blackwater Tactical Support Team (TST 22), who had escorted the officials and TST 4 back to the Green Zone, was redirected to support Raven 23. [89][90][91] The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit's fractured per curiam decision first found that Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act authorized the prosecutions, over the partial dissent of Judge Janice Rogers Brown. [57], In October 2007, the United Nations released a two-year study that stated that private contractors, although hired as "security guards", were performing military duties. 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. Russian Forces strike Ukrainian Armys Electronic Intelligence Center in Kiev Region. "The civilians that were fired upon, they didn't have any weapons to fire back at them. Trump pardons Blackwater killers for Nisour Square massacre "The victims' families finally saw some measure of justice when these men were convicted in 2014 and sentenced to prison. More than 3,000 troops remain in Iraq, according to defense officials, with a drawdown scheduled for January. [54] He enlisted in 1999, and served in Bosnia with the 3rd Infantry Division. Consider what the world of media would look like without The Intercept. We dont have ads, so we depend on our members 35,000 and counting to help us hold the powerful to account. Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater and the Unsung Heroes At the sentencing, the US attorneys office said in a statement: The sheer amount of unnecessary human loss and suffering attributable to the defendants criminal conduct on 16 September 2007 is staggering., After news of the pardon emerged on Tuesday night, Brian Heberlig, a lawyer for one of the four pardoned Blackwater defendants, said: Paul Slough and his colleagues didnt deserve to spend one minute in prison. He never received treatment. They claimed they were fired on, but prosecutors said the Blackwater guards opened fire first. Likewise, the civil case ran through North Carolina state court, was removed to federal court, and then sent back to state court. [45] Also, it is not clear whether the license revocation is permanent. The majority of the Blackwater mercenaries in Iraq after the . Defence lawyers argued their clients returned fire after being ambushed by Iraqi insurgents. The man that just spoken to him was dead. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. [34], In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, Blackwater's rights to conduct work in Iraq were temporarily suspended. Nassar Hamza was 67 years old when he was shot and wounded in the arm. The committee was co-chaired by Abd al Qadir, the Iraqi Minister of Defense, and Patricia A. Butenis, the Charg d'affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. "These are four innocent guys, and it is completely justified," Bill Coffield, a lawyer for Evan Liberty, told the AP. Nisour Square massacre - Wikipedia [63], A U.S. judge's decision to dismiss all charges against Blackwater on January 1, 2010, sparked outrage in the Arab world. The killing of innocent civilians, including two young boys, sparked international outrage and public scrutiny into the use of private military companies . [6][85][86] Jurors sided with prosecutors' contention that the shooting was a criminal act, not a battlefield encounter gone wrong. "With those sentences reversed by the stroke of a pen, who will trust the American justice system again?". The Beginning Blackwater USA began in 1997 by Al Clark and Erik Prince. First ones from 16,000. The Nisour Square massacre was the FBI's most comprehensive and expensive criminal investigation since 9/11. [63] The suit was settled for an undisclosed sum in January 2010. 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. Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard were convicted six years ago in the killing of 14 Iraqi civilians and the wounding of 17 others. [26][27], On September 27, 2007, The New York Times reported that during the chaotic incident at Nisour Square, one member of the Blackwater security team continued to fire on civilians despite urgent cease-fire calls from colleagues. Dickinson says the great expense that the FBI put into the prosecution of the case has now come to nothing. Before embarking on the clandestine Kyiv visit, Erik Prince consulted with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Director National Intelligence Avril Haines, with whom his relationship goes a long way the back to the early nineties after she purchased a bar in Fells Point, Baltimore, which had been seized in a drug raid. Mohammed quickly got out of the car and saw blood inside the rear window. Blackwater mercenaries in helicopters also fired into traffic from overhead. security contractors who had previously been sentenced over the death of 17 Iraqi civilians in the 2007 Nisur Square massacre . Mohammed was thrilled when the U.S. entered Baghdad years earlier in 2003. "[29], On October 4, 2007, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced that it would be taking the lead in the investigation of the shooting incident. [38] Waxman stated that "the controversy over Blackwater is an unfortunate demonstration of the perils of excessive reliance on private security contractors. How many covert wars, miscarriages of justice, and dystopian technologies would remain hidden if our reporters werent on the beat? The security industry has evolved drastically since those events, and under the direction of new ownership and leadership, Academi has invested heavily in compliance and ethics programmes, training for our employees, and preventative measures to strictly comply with all US and local government laws.. [42] A spokesman stated that the ban would last for the duration of the investigation, and that it would not be permanent. Blackwater mercenary sentenced to life in prison - NationofChange Using the good offices of his sister Betsy Devos, who worked as Trumps secretary of education, Erik Prince even made an offer to Trump for the outsourcing of the Afghanistan war to private military contractors advising and assisting Afghan security forces following the withdrawal of US troops. But when the shooting started, his life and the lives of his entire family changed forever. Three Ex-Blackwater Guards Are Resentenced in Iraq War Massacre The men will serve about half of their original 30-year sentences for their roles in a 2007 shooting of unarmed civilians in Iraq . The traffic circle, Nisour Square, was only a block away from one of the main entrance gates to Baghdads Green Zone. Former Blackwater mercenary convicted of Baghdad civilian massacre Nicky Woolf in New York. [9], Blackwater guards claimed that the convoy was ambushed and that they fired at the attackers in defense of the convoy. "I am overwhelmed with emotion at this fantastic news.". Or should I say Why is he still breathing? She turned the location into an exotic bookstore and caf, offering erotica readings, among other licentious pastimes. Mohammed was glad Saddams reign of terror was finally ending. The My Lai massacre took place on 16 March 1968. [48] According to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice promised a "fair and transparent" investigation into the incident. He could not understand what was happening or why. 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. [2] Reactions [ edit] Majid survived because he was on the passenger side of the car and was protected from most of the barrage of bullets. By Andrew Emett - August 16, 2019 1269 SOURCE NationofChange Dec. 24, 2020 Mohammed Hafedh Abdulrazzaq Kinani with a photo of his 9-year-old son, Ali, who was killed by Blackwater. The Nisour Square Massacre, in which Blackwater mercenaries fired hundreds of rounds in a crowded Baghdad traffic square, killing fourteen Iraqis, including ten women and two children, and . Spring flowers are planted in Nisour Square, the site of a deadly shootout by Blackwater private security contractors in 2007, in Baghdad on April 15, 2015. [I]f such a thing happened in America or Britain, would the American president or American citizens accept it? The Blackwater guards included Nicholas Slatten, who was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder for his role in the 2007 Nisoor Square massacre, when he and other . The Blackwater guards were firing indiscriminately. 3", is named Paul Slough. 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. Trump's Blackwater Guard Pardons Cause Shock And Dismay : NPR Trump Pardons Blackwater Contractors Who Killed Iraqis ", Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics, Jasem Mohammed Hashem, who was working as a police officer when he was shot in the head in the attack, was also disappointed by Trump's decision to free the men who, he said, "opened fire randomly at the citizens.". It was funded with millions that. Being so close to the Green Zone, he thought someone important might be entering or leaving the area. The bullets rained through the roofs of cars, taxis and buses, he says. Blackwater Mercenaries: NATO's Secret Weapon in Ukraine War This is not for the faint of heart but allegedly a video from the Ukraine conflict at a check-point at Mariupol which is surrounded by Russian troops. 2004 Fallujah ambush - Wikipedia The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq increasingly relied on private contractors, Blackwater being only the most infamous. As shootings in the square were not uncommon, it is unclear whether the shells were from the shooting in question or from other incidents. Trump Pardons Blackwater 4 for Nisour Square Massacre in Iraq, because That notion has now been shown to be false, Dickinson says. Constellis did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Five independent UN experts condemned United States President Donald Trump's pardoning of private security contractors, convicted in 2015 for war crimes in Iraq, on Wednesday. They could not do anything for him. "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. And none of the I.P. [37], Henry Waxman, the chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which held hearings on the use of Private Security Contractors in February 2007, said his committee would hold hearings "to understand what has happened and the extent of the damage to U.S. security interests". But NATOs covert operators embedded with Ukraines security forces reassured them that the war wasnt over and implored them to give their Western mentors a face-saving by mounting at least a semblance of resistance against the fierce onslaught by Russias professional security forces. Mohammed met members of the U.S. Army on the streets and handed out candy and juice when he saw them. Iraqi authorities say 17 people were killed; the Department of Justice has said the total was 14. Rogers. The Nisour Square massacre was the FBIs most comprehensive and expensive criminal investigation since 9/11. Machine gunfire tore through his body. But Trump reached a peace agreement with the Taliban and then lost the re-election bid before he could consider the bizarre proposal. "Today we were surprised that the American president issued a decision to pardon these criminals, murderers and thugs," Salman said, speaking from Baghdad. Mohammed was a businessman dealing in auto salvage. Boslego also said the attack had a negative effect on our mission, [an] adverse effect It made our relationship with the Iraqis in general more strained.. [6][86] Bringing the weapons charges was disputed within the Justice Department, which initially opposed including them in the indictment. [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 Blackwater mercenaries were among the most flagrant killers in Iraq but hardly unique. [19] The three justifiable killings were those of the two passengers in the white Kia sedan and an unidentified Iraqi nearby. Victims were everywhere. When Mohammed looked to his right, the driver of the car next to him shouted that the soldiers had just shot into another car in front of them. Following Russias intervention in Ukraine, Germany alone hasproudly bragged[4] of dispatching caches of 500 US-made surface-to-air Stinger missiles and 2,700 Soviet-era, shoulder-fired Strelamissiles to Ukraines conscript military. As Mohammed held his sons hand, he convulsed and died in the back of the ambulance. I represented the Kinani family and five other victims of the Blackwater guards who were convicted of killing at least 14 innocent Iraqi citizens that day and injured dozens more. To understand the carnage that happened on the streets that day, you need to hear it in Mohammeds words as he explained it to me. When Mohammed saw the convoy enter the traffic circle, he initially thought they were regular U.S. Army members. [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. 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. [77] "Prosecutors should therefore have built their case against the men without them", a BBC report explained.

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