PeacePundit has been tracking the fallout from an incident in which guards working for Blackwater Worldwide, a US-based security firm, shot and threw grenades at unarmed Iraqi civilians in Nisoor Square (Baghdad) to clear it as the US State Department caravan they were guarding approached. Seventeen civilians, including children, were killed, and more were injured. The guards claim that the caravan was attacked as it entered the square, but Iraqi and US military witnesses disputed that.
The Iraqi government, reacting to that incident and several others in which civilians were killed by Blackwater guards, asked the US State Department to stop using Blackwater in Iraq and pulled Blackwater’s license to operate, but the firm continued to operate in Iraq under the name “Xe Services” (pronounced “zee”).
The Iraqis also wanted to prosecute the six Blackwater guards in Iraq, but the US government disallowed that on the grounds that contractors working in Iraq are immune from Iraqi prosecution for misdeeds. The US promised to prosecute the guards in the US. Toward that end, the US Justice Dept. conducted an investigation, interviewing the guards as well as Iraqi and US witnesses.
On Dec. 31, the US judge hearing the case dismissed all charges against the guards on the grounds that the Justice Dept’s case was based on faulty evidence. He did not decide whether the guards were guilty or innocent, but he said that the case could not proceed because the prosecutors’ evidence was inadmissible.
[SF Chronicle: "Judge Dismisses Blackwater Case"]
Not surprisingly, the Iraqis are furious. From their point of view, the Blackwater guards have been let off scot-free for a particularly serious crime. The Iraqi government promises to pursue its own case, but it is doubtful that much will come of that. It is more likely that something will come of a civil suit filed by victims of the attack and their families in a US court (which was not affected by the dismissal of the criminal case).
If I were in the Iraqi government, I would demand an investigation of whether the US Justice Department intentionally botched the case so that it would be thrown out.
[Associated Press: "Judge tosses Blackwater case, Iraqis angry"]
[SF Chronicle: "Iraqis furious as Blackwater charges dismissed"]
Related Peace Pundit Posts
- Blackwater (Xe) Faces More Accusations of Wrongdoing
- Blackwater Nisoor Square Shooting Case on Trial
- Blackwater in the News
- Letter from Pelosi on U.S. Security Contractors in Iraq
- Evidence Mounts that Blackwater Shot First in Nisoor Square
January 3, 2010 at 8:14 am |
It is not only the Iraqis who are furious. Me, too! What message are we sending to Iraq and the world? Our so-called liberation of the country is being executed by, as much as we can judge, a genocidal zealot.
That is “as much as we can judge” Erik Prince and his team, because they continue to live outside any judicial process.
The judge claimed the evidence was inadmissible because the guards were **required**, on threat of job-loss, to tell State Dept what had happened at the shooting. I guess this leaves us employing an army not subject to **any** oversight.
It is well past time to send Xe packing!