Ex-Blackwater contractors sentenced for Nusoor Sq shooting

**Koshinn** · 04-13-15, 17:55

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/13/us/bla...ing/index.html

"One former employee of the private Blackwater Worldwide security company was sentenced Monday to life in prison and three others to 30 years each behind bars for their roles in a 2007 mass shooting in Baghdad that left 17 people dead.

The case was initially dismissed in 2008 after a judge found the Justice Department withheld key evidence and violated the rights of the contractors. A federal appeals court reversed the ruling, paving the way for the two-month trial that ended in convictions for the four."

**SteyrAUG** · 04-13-15, 18:13

Meanwhile we are releasing top level Al Quida guys and trading them for Bergdahl.

Even by the Iraq version of events this is bullshit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwa...tings#Incident

Iraq version:

The Blackwater guards' account of the incident differed from that set forth in an Iraqi government account. The latter claimed that as the convoy drew close to Nisour Square, a Kia sedan with a woman and her grown son in it was approaching the square from a distance, driving slowly on the wrong side of the road, and that the driver ignored a police officer's whistle to clear a path for the convoy. According to this account, the security team fired warning shots and then lethal fire at the Kia. Then set off stun grenades to clear the scene. Iraqi police and Iraqi Army soldiers, mistaking the stun grenades for fragmentation grenades, opened fire at the Blackwater men, to which they responded.

Blackwater version:

In the account by the Blackwater firm, it stated that the driver of the Kia sedan had kept driving toward the convoy, ignoring verbal orders, hand signals, and water bottles which were thrown at the car, and continued to approach even when fired upon. An Iraqi policeman went over to the car possibly to help the passenger, but the vehicle kept moving and it looked to the guards as if the policeman was pushing it. 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.

In response to the guards' killing of the Iraqi policemen, other Iraqi police officers began to fire at the Blackwater men. Since insurgents in Iraq often disguise themselves by wearing police uniforms, the guards could not be sure they were dealing with actual police. They communicated to the State Department operations center that they were under attack. A State Department employee who, walking into the department's Baghdad operations center on the day of the incident, heard a radio call from the convoy: “Contact, contact, contact! We are taking fire from insurgents and Iraqi police.”

According to Blackwater vice-president Marty Strong, the convoy was hit with "a large explosive device" and "repeated small arms fire" which disabled a vehicle. Several sources have stated that the explosion was caused by a mortar round, though this is not reflected in the Department of State incident report. Blackwater has denied Iraqi allegations that one of their helicopters fired from the air during the incident.

**jpmuscle** · 04-13-15, 19:23

Shameful of our government... But that's nothing new.

**ABNAK** · 04-13-15, 21:04

While I'm not familiar with the intimate details of this case it wasn't like My Lai as far as malice and intent are concerned. At worst this was a case of negligence or manslaughter......again, worse-case scenario. These sentences are a bit on the heavy side.

The U.S. government's jurisdiction in this case is making me raise my eyebrows too. In a foreign country, not members of the armed forces. Like the guy a few years ago busted and convicted for going to Thailand for kiddie sex (not supporting that behavior obviously but the jurisdictional overreach is astounding).

**MountainRaven** · 04-13-15, 21:10

Originally Posted by ABNAK

While I'm not familiar with the intimate details of this case it wasn't like My Lai as far as malice and intent are concerned. At worst this was a case of negligence or manslaughter......again, worse-case scenario. These sentences are a bit on the heavy side.

The U.S. government's jurisdiction in this case is making me raise my eyebrows too. In a foreign country, not members of the armed forces. Like the guy a few years ago busted and convicted for going to Thailand for kiddie sex (not supporting that behavior obviously but the jurisdictional overreach is astounding).

Extraterritoriality. This is part of the reason why Iraq kicked contractors out. Incidents like this are why the Iraqis didn't want to keep US forces on the ground in Iraq.

The good news for the contractors is that they were tried in the US. If they had been tried in Iraq, they'd probably have all been hanged - barring interference from Department of State. And then they would have gotten life in prison in some prison in what is now ISIS-controlled Iraq and had their heads slowly sawn off on YouTube.

**SteyrAUG** · 04-13-15, 21:13

Originally Posted by ABNAK

While I'm not familiar with the intimate details of this case it wasn't like My Lai as far as malice and intent are concerned. At worst this was a case of negligence or manslaughter......again, worse-case scenario. These sentences are a bit on the heavy side.

The U.S. government's jurisdiction in this case is making me raise my eyebrows too. In a foreign country, not members of the armed forces. Like the guy a few years ago busted and convicted for going to Thailand for kiddie sex (not supporting that behavior obviously but the jurisdictional overreach is astounding).

These guys were sold out in order to show the Iraqi's that we are interested in justice. Only problem is Middle Eastern expectations of justice are to torture somebody to death for things like adultery. Given the comparable standards of living, US jails are likely to be viewed as "country clubs" by your average Iraqi and the sentence is likely to be viewed as an insult as much as punishment.

**signal4l** · 04-13-15, 21:28

Hopefully we will have a Republican in office in 2016 that possesses a reasonable level of common sense.

His first act should be a presidential pardon for these contractors

**Voodoochild** · 04-14-15, 11:02

They got rail roaded all in the name of politics. It is shameful that our Government acts like this and gets away with it time and time again. I hope they appeal this and get the truth out.