blackwater mercenaries massacre blackwater mercenaries massacre

By Andrew Emett - August 16, 2019 1269 SOURCE NationofChange The US government said in a memorandum filed after the sentencing: None of the victims was an insurgent, or posed any threat to the Raven 23 convoy. The memorandum also contained quotations from relatives of the dead, including Mohammad Kinani, whose nine-year-old son Ali was killed. 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. That notion has now been shown to be false, Dickinson says. Dickinson says the great expense that the FBI put into the prosecution of the case has now come to nothing. [81] A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found "systemic" errors in the district court's 2009 decision to dismiss charges against the five former Blackwater guards and added "We find that the district court's findings depend on an erroneous view of the law". "I am overwhelmed with emotion at this fantastic news.". The U.S. remains one of the notable holdouts of the 2001 UN treaty known in full as the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries and it is unlikely we will ever join. LONDON and BAGHDAD -- When news broke that Mohammed Kinani's son's killers, Blackwater private military contractors hired by the U.S. government in Baghdad, were pardoned Wednesday by President Trump, Kinani said it was like losing his 9-year-old boy all over again. The four were convicted at then VP Joe Biden's insistence, and were serving jail terms. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. The Nisour Square massacre was one of the most prominent events of the US-Iraq conflict, raising doubts about America's true intentions in the region. Mohammed turned his bullet-riddled SUV around and drove back to the closest hospital only a few blocks behind him. . Defence lawyers argued their clients returned fire after being ambushed by Iraqi insurgents. "Before he died, he went crazy as he used to go out into the street and whenever he saw a young man, he imagined that he was Mahdi," he said. "[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. 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. He was driving on flat tires and with a shattered windshield. courts. On Tuesday, President Trump pardoned 15 people, including Dustin Heard (from left), Evan Liberty, Nicholas Slatten and Paul Slough, the four former government contractors convicted for a 2007 massacre in Baghdad that left more than a dozen Iraqi civilians dead. The Blackwater mercenaries were among the most flagrant killers in Iraq but hardly unique. He lay in the hallway for an hour before he died. He told NPR on Wednesday that he was shocked by Trump's pardons he himself had made trips to the U.S. to give testimony in the proceedings against the four. The black-op of setting a building in the sprawling nuclear complex alight and then posting doctored video clips of Russian tanks shelling straight at the nuclear plant on social media, promptly verified as authentic by corporate media, was clearly the dirty work of covert saboteurs whove been advising and assisting Ukraines inept security forces and also taking an active part in combat operations in some of the hardest fought battles against Russias security forces north of Kyiv and at Kharkiv and Donbas. Mohammed kept seeing the man on the ground next to him being fired upon as he lay dead. And none of the I.P. No wonder Russia formally issued an ultimatum on Tuesday, March 1, that it would target the hub of covert warfare. The massacre took place in 2007, when the four were working as guards for Blackwater, a private military contractor, on an assignment in Baghdad. FBI investigators who visited the scene in the following days described it as the My Lai massacre of Iraq a reference to the infamous slaughter of civilian villagers by US troops during the Vietnam war in which only one soldier was convicted. [63] The suit was settled for an undisclosed sum in January 2010. [56], On April 1, 2011, the Associated Press reported on Erik Prince's seven-hour testimony about what allegedly transpired. The massacre resulted in the deaths of 17 unarmed Iraqis and wounded at least 20 others. Of the $10 billion humanitarian and military assistance for Ukraine announced by the Biden administration, the top brass of the Pentagon is reportedly making preparations for allocating a significant portion of the funds for providing military training and arms to almost a million refugees who have fled Ukraine following the war. He was told that he had to go to a neurologic hospital on the other side of Baghdad. Before VT Nuclear Education: The Beirut Nuclear Coverup, The Hidden History of the Incredibly Evil Khazarian Mafia. Nicholas Slatten, Evan Liberty, Paul Slough and Devin Heard were convicted on charges of first-degree murder and manslaughter by a federal jury in October 2014. Slattern was sentenced to life and the others to 30 years in prison each. That day changed my life forever. He was left with shrapnel in his body from the rocket launched grenade that was fired into his vehicle as he escaped. 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. ", "After years of waiting, the victims finally saw justice served when these men were convicted," she said in an email. 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. Then one of his sisters children said that Ali was hurt. The fire has since been extinguished after the plant was captured by Russian troops and no radiation leakage has been detected. Dozens of witnesses were brought to the United States to testify about what happened. Majid survived because he was on the passenger side of the car and was protected from most of the barrage of bullets. The Iraqi government and Iraqi police investigator Faris Saadi Abdul stated that the killings were unprovoked. Each step of the way, the U.S. legal system ensured that these men were given fair and just prosecutions. [55], On April 1, 2009, the Associated Press reported that forensic tests on bullets were inconclusive. [23]:32 Shortly after assuming their positions, "Raven 23" began firing on civilians in response to an approaching car, killing fourteen and wounding twenty more. Russian Forces strike Ukrainian Armys Electronic Intelligence Center in Kiev Region. ", 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.". Four Blackwater operatives were found guilty one of murder in a 2007 Baghdad massacre. 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. What takes place doesnt mention Russian soldiers but others preventing citizens from escaping. 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. [45] Also, it is not clear whether the license revocation is permanent. [71], In December 2008, the United States Department of Justice announced it was filing criminal charges against five of the Blackwater employees, and ordered them to surrender to the FBI. She turned the location into an exotic bookstore and caf, offering erotica readings, among other licentious pastimes. [24] The driver of the Kia was shot once in the head by a Blackwater contractor and was killed. This includes the right to see perpetrators serve punishments proportionate to the seriousness of their conduct. "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. An ambulance was called, and Ali and Mohammad were rushed to the other side of town. How many covert wars, miscarriages of justice, and dystopian technologies would remain hidden if our reporters werent on the beat? December 23, 2020 at 2:57 pm. A. [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. WaPo says, 'Investigators for the military and the FBI later described . [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. "[51][52][53], On January 19, 2008, The New York Times reported that the contractor responsible for many of the deaths in the engagement, previously known only as "turret gunner no. Almost everyone who was killed or injured was shot in cars, taxis, or buses. Why did it happen? The 14 victims killed by the Blackwater guards on trial were listed as Ahmed Haithem Ahmed Al Rubiay, Mahassin Mohssen Kadhum Al-Khazali, Osama Fadhil Abbas, Ali Mohammed Hafedh Abdul Razzaq, Mohamed Abbas Mahmoud, Qasim Mohamed Abbas Mahmoud, Saadi Ali Abbas Alkarkh, Mushtaq Karim Abd Al-Razzaq, Ghaniyah Hassan Ali, Ibrahim Abid Ayash, Hamoud Saeed Abttan, Uday Ismail Ibrahiem, Mahdi Sahib Nasir and Ali Khalil Abdul Hussein. His domains of expertise include neocolonialism, military-industrial complex, and petro-imperialism. [19] The three justifiable killings were those of the two passengers in the white Kia sedan and an unidentified Iraqi nearby. The Beginning Blackwater USA began in 1997 by Al Clark and Erik Prince. "These four individuals were given sentences ranging from 12 years to life imprisonment, including on charges of first-degree murder," spokesperson Marta Hurtado said in a statement. The aide also said that the Iraqi government was pushing for an apology, compensation for victims or their families and for the guards involved in the shooting to be held "accountable". The black-ops of NATOs mercenaries in Ukraine were being directed from Ukraines Security Service (SSU) headquarter and the main center for information and psychological operations in Kyiv. The only way these men could be brought to justice was in the United States. The report found that the guards fired their weapons 195 times from the beginning of 2005 through the second week of September 2005. It was not an easy path in either the civil or criminal legal system. "I don't know what I did to Blackwater," Kinani told ABC News. A federal district court judge sentenced four former Blackwater Worldwide mercenaries to lengthy prison terms on Monday for their role in the Nisour Square massacre in Baghdad, Iraq in 2007. He could not understand what was happening or why. A caption at the bottom of the screen states . [49], An Interior Ministry spokesman said Iraqi authorities had completed their investigation into the shooting and concluded that Blackwater guards were responsible for the deaths. This evidentiary use of tainted information constitutes yet another Kastigar violation. The pardons could damage the United States' reputation abroad, as they undo the significance of the convictions, which had demonstrated that U.S. military contractors could be held accountable if they conducted criminal actions. "On what basis did Trump depend on to release them? The convictions made the victims feel that justice had been obtained. 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. The man that just spoken to him was dead. He despised Saddam Hussein and his oppressive and vindictive ways. [64], US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates testified before Congress that the Pentagon has sufficient legal authority to control its contractors, but that commanders lack sufficient "means and resources" to exercise adequate oversight. First ones from 16,000. "Victims of gross human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law also have the right to a remedy. and thus prosecution by U.S. IE 11 is not supported. He was in the car next to Mohammed. [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. It looks at the rise of private security contractors such as Blackwater in the era of modern warfare. [40], On October 11, 2007, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed suit against Blackwater USA under the Alien Tort Claims Act on behalf of an injured Iraqi and the families of three of the seventeen Iraqis who were killed by Blackwater employees during the September 16, 2007, shooting incident. A burnt car at the site where Blackwater guards opened fire on a crowd in Baghdad, Iraq, in 2007. The incident was allegedly resolved only after another Blackwater contractor pointed his weapon at the man still firing and ordered him to stop. Ali was the youngest of Blackwaters victims that day. Hussein Saheb Nasser, 35, told NBC News by telephone from his home in Baghdad on Wednesday. They are coming to defend freedom, defend life. But when the shooting started, his life and the lives of his entire family changed forever. Blackwater was founded by Erik Prince, whose sister, Betsy DeVos, was appointed Trumps education secretary. [40] The US House passed a bill, titled the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, that would make all private contractors working in Iraq and other combat zones subject to prosecution by U.S. [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. It was an honor to represent these victims and their families. He saw the man next to him run. How is Eric Prince still breathing? The headrest next to him where his sister sat had a bullet hole through it. Paul Dickinson[emailprotected]farrin.com. [44] Blackwater's operations on behalf of the U.S. Department of State and the CIA may be unaffected by license revocation. The shooting ended as suddenly as it started. [6][85][86] Jurors sided with prosecutors' contention that the shooting was a criminal act, not a battlefield encounter gone wrong. Contractor Banned by Iraq Over Shootings", "F.B.I. [14] The Iraqi government vowed to punish Blackwater. A rocket grenade was fired into the car next to him. Their belief in our legal system was misplaced. Slough, Liberty and Heard were convicted on multiple charges of voluntary and attempted manslaughter in 2014, while Slatten, who was the first to start shooting, was convicted of first-degree murder. 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. 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. Dark Truth Exposed: East Palestine Rail Disaster, BOAC 707 Sabotage, Why people should start business in Lithuania, Best Strategy To Play Online Baccarat Games, Effects of Incontinence in Various Areas of Life, Conversations from the porch Episode 19 with Jack Heart &, Covert Operations In Vietnam: The Incomplete History of US-Norway Collaboration. But its the much more subtle and insidious tactic of economic warfare for which Russia has no antidote, as the global neocolonial order is being led by the United States and its Western European clients since the signing of the Bretton Woods Accord in 1945 following the Second World War. And afterward, Iraqi citizens wanted to ensure that those who had done this were held responsible. Mohammed would look to see what was happening. Blackwater and its employees had been given immunity from any criminal or civil exposure in Iraq that was part of Princes contract with the State Department. Consider what the world of media would look like without The Intercept. Our civil case resulted in a resolution that was acceptable to the parties. Before. [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. AP Prosecutors asserted the heavily armed Raven 23 Blackwater convoy launched an unprovoked attack using sniper fire, machine-guns and grenade launchers. In their view, this confirmed that they were under attack by a vehicle bomb, whereupon they fired at the car, killing both people in it as well as the Iraqi policeman. [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". When Mohammed saw the convoy enter the traffic circle, he initially thought they were regular U.S. Army members. The September 16, 2007 shootings by Blackwater mercenaries left 14 Iraqis dead and wounded 18 others in Baghdad's Nisour Square. [72] A sixth Blackwater guard, Jeremy Ridgeway of California, struck a deal with prosecutors on December 4, 2008 and pleaded guilty to one count each of voluntary manslaughter, attempted manslaughter, and aiding and abetting,[72][3] and agreed to testify against the other five men. Hassan Salman is among the Iraqis who were shot during the ambush. https://www.ournewearthnews.com/2022/03/04/massacre-in-ukraine-caught-on-camera-and-probably-still-unfolding-viewer-discretion-advised-please-pray/. As shootings in the square were not uncommon, it is unclear whether the shells were from the shooting in question or from other incidents. Erik Prince said that he didn't believe the FBI had fully investigated the sources of all the used bullets in Nisour Square, arguing that it would have been helpful if the defense had been in possession of a complete ballistics report. For us, for everyone. [62] After a group of Iraqi ministers backed the Iraqi Interior Ministry's decision to shut down Blackwater USA's operations in Iraq,[29] Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called on the U.S. government to end its contract with Blackwater[39] and called on Blackwater to pay the families $8million in compensation. Although NATO powers did provide Stingers to their jihadist proxies that helped turn the tide in the Soviet-Afghan war in the eighties, since then, despite providing anti-tank munitions and rest of weapons to militant groups during the proxy wars in Libya and Syria, Western powers have consistently avoided providing MANPADS to proxy forces, because such deadly anti-aircraft munitions could become a long-term threat not only to military aircraft but also to civilian airlines. [41] Senate Democratic leaders said they planned to pass similar legislation as soon as possible. Being so close to the Green Zone, he thought someone important might be entering or leaving the area. The result is not just that we see an injustice in the United States, but that the world must surely see cracks in the pillars of justice upon which our system is based. He was shot while seated in a public bus. That day destroyed me completely, Kinani said. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater and the Unsung Heroes of the, at the best online prices at eBay! Covert Operations In Vietnam: The Incomplete History of US-Norway Collaboration. They claimed they were fired on, but. [97], On December 22, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump granted full presidential pardons to Slatten, Slough, Liberty, and Heard. (Iraqi police) or any of the local security forces fired back at them", the official continued. The massacre took place in 2007, when the four were working as guards for Blackwater, a private military contractor, on an assignment in Baghdad. [54] He enlisted in 1999, and served in Bosnia with the 3rd Infantry Division. Since the harrowing Nisour Square massacre in Baghdad in 2007, the Blackwater private military contractor, renamed as Academi in 2011 and becoming a subsidiary of Constellis Group following a merger with Triple Canopy in 2014, has built quite a business empire for itself. [89][90][91] The panel also recommended that Slatten undergo a re-trial on the grounds that it was unjustifiable to try him with his co-defendants, and that he should have been tried separately. Prosecutors argued the men did not face hostile gunfire when they began shooting, and continued to shoot despite the lack of threats. The U.S. legal system, a pillar of fairness in the world, had worked. Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) - On Tuesday, Trump the Mad pardoned 4 Blackwater mercenaries who killed 14 Iraqi civilians, including a nine-year-old boy, with indiscriminate fire at Nisour Square in downtown Baghdad on September 14, 2007. 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.. Four guards fired on unarmed crowd in Baghdad in 2007, killing 14 and sparking outrage over use of private security in war zones. The hospital was too busy. Donald Trump has pardoned the four contractors jailed over the killing of 14 civilians. [9], Blackwater guards claimed that the convoy was ambushed and that they fired at the attackers in defense of the convoy. Adela Sulimanis a London-based reporter for NBC News Digital. Nicholas Slatten was sentenced to life in prison without parole after being convicted of murder, while Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard were convicted of manslaughter and weapons charges. 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. He was shot through the roof of his car as the Blackwater convoy drove past firing down into traffic. [3] Erik Prince provided weapons and aircraft to eastern Libyas warlord Khalifa Haftar: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/25/world/middleeast/libya-mercenaries-arms-embargo.html. Prosecutors said the Blackwater convoy launched an unprovoked attack using sniper fire, machine guns and grenade launchers. He had tried to run but was lying in a pool of blood killed by machine gunfire from the armored cars. 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. [93], On December 19, 2018, Slatten was found guilty of murder[94] and again was sentenced to life in prison on August 14, 2019. The Nisour Square massacre was the FBIs most comprehensive and expensive criminal investigation since 9/11. "The victims' families finally saw some measure of justice when these men were convicted in 2014 and sentenced to prison. A 20,000-strong mercenary army is being assembled in Poland. "This was Baghdad's Bloody Sunday," Dickinson told NPR's Mary Louise Kelly on Wednesday. Each time the criminal charges were seemed lost, the U.S. Department of Justice told them they were not forgotten that we would continue to pursue the convictions of those who committed the crimes against them. [6][86] Bringing the weapons charges was disputed within the Justice Department, which initially opposed including them in the indictment. [37], Blackwater, which had been operating in Iraq without an Iraqi government license, applied for one after the incident, but the application was rejected by Iraqi officials in January 2009. [19] According to this account, the security team fired warning shots and then lethal fire at the Kia. Paul Dickinson is a lawyer who represented six Iraqi families in a civil lawsuit against Blackwater and its founder, Erik Prince (who is the brother of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos). [4] Germany to ship anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine: https://www.dw.com/en/germany-to-ship-anti-aircraft-missiles-to-ukraine-reports/a-60995325. The Kia continued to roll forward after the driver was killed, according to an eyewitness, and Raven 23 continued to fire on it, killing the passenger (the driver's mother); eventually, the Kia was struck by a grenade and was incinerated. Blackwater Mercenaries: NATOs Secret Weapon in Ukraine War, VT RADIO: Alternative Foreign Policy Talk, Khazarian Mafia at War: The Jewish Oligarch Who Planned the Terror, Russias Future Predicted by Well-Known Christian Saints, Most Front-Line Ukrainian Soldiers Killed Within 4 Hours, How Russia managed to survive Western sanctions, How War Began The Genesis of NATOs Coup in Ukraine , From Global Warming Denial to Holocaust Denial, On this day in 1940, Woody Guthrie writes This Land Is, Former U.S. President Carter to Hospice, Will Pariah Trump Attend State, Dr. Fauci Admits COVID Shots Didnt Have A Chance Of Controlling. Again be warned it is ugly. Supporters of the former contractors at Blackwater Worldwide had lobbied for the pardons, arguing that the men had been excessively punished. [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.