Meanwhile, it took two weeks before a 10-person FBI team was sent to investigate the massacre for the government. [79] Three weeks later, Vice President Joe Biden, who was overseeing U.S. policy in Iraq, promised Iraqi leaders the U.S. would appeal the dismissal of these charges. Donald Trump has pardoned four security guards from the private military firm Blackwater who were serving jail sentences for killing 14 civilians including two children in Baghdad in 2007, a massacre that sparked an international outcry over the use of mercenaries in war. "All of a sudden, I felt pain in my right arm and left leg, opened the car door, and rolled out," said Hooby. Blackwater Security Consulting, also known as Blackwater Worldwide, was founded in 1997 by Al Clark and Erik Prince as a private security firm. "Convoys are common," explained Khalaf. [8][98] A White House statement said the men had a "long history of service to the nation" as veterans of the US Armed Forces, and that there was strong support for the pardons from the public and elected officials. But this convoy made an unexpected U-turn, drove the wrong way around the one-way square, stopped in the middle of it and started shooting. Trump pardons Blackwater contractors jailed for massacre of Iraq For several years, a private security firm known as Blackwater Security Consulting received an unprecedented level of funding and incredibly limited oversight from the United States. The massacre took place in 2007, when the four were working as guards for Blackwater, a private military contractor, on an assignment in Baghdad. Share this via Printer. [1] The ambush [ edit] They arrived at the square while driving on the wrong side of the road. Initially, they worked providing training support to law enforcement and the justice department, but as Prince once stated, their "corporate goal [was] to do for the national security apparatus what FedEx did to the postal service." Ex-Blackwater contractor sentenced to life in Iraq shootings By ASHRAF KHALIL August 14, 2019 WASHINGTON (AP) A former Blackwater security contractor was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for his role in the 2007 shooting of unarmed civilians in Iraq that left 14 people dead. [16] The FBI investigation found that, of the 17 Iraqis killed by the guards, at least 14 were shot without cause. [43], The Private Security Company Association of Iraq, in a document last updated on July 3, 2007, listed Blackwater as not having a license to operate in Iraq despite their attempts to apply for one. That day destroyed me completely, Kinani said. However, according to The New York Times, the Iraqi government technically didn't have the legal authority to do so since the U.S.-led transitional government shielded security contractors from Iraqi laws, per CNN. The report found that the guards fired their weapons 195 times from the beginning of 2005 through the second week of September 2005. "We were always together. Prosecutors argued the men did not face hostile gunfire when they began shooting, and continued to shoot despite the lack of threats. [19] A Blackwater spokeswoman responded to the findings by saying Blackwater "supports the stringent accountability of the industry. Amid the wreckage, colorful clouds billowed into the air from the convoy's parting gift -- multicolored smoke bombs. [88], On August 4, 2017, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned Slatten's murder conviction and ordered the other defendants to be re-sentenced to time already served. [56], On April 1, 2011, the Associated Press reported on Erik Prince's seven-hour testimony about what allegedly transpired. Director Pasha Patriki Writers Chad Law Tyler W. Konney Richard Switzer Stars Jean-Claude Van Damme Dolph Lundgren Al Sapienza See production, box office & company info Watch on Freevee Watch Free on Freevee More watch options Donald Trump has pardoned four security guards from the private military firm Blackwater who were serving jail sentences for killing 14 civilians including two children in Baghdad in 2007, a. [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". "It was obviously excessive", a U.S. military official speaking on condition of anonymity told the Washington Post. [1][2][3] The killings outraged Iraqis and strained relations between Iraq and the United States. "Blackwater": the major crimes of the most famous American PMCs [19] The three justifiable killings were those of the two passengers in the white Kia sedan and an unidentified Iraqi nearby. FBI scientists couldn't match bullets from the square to guns carried by the Blackwater guards and FBI investigators found foreign cartridge cases of a kind not used by U.S. or Blackwater personnel. Trump's Blackwater Guard Pardons Cause Shock And Dismay : NPR Black Water (2018) - Full Cast & Crew - IMDb In the span of 20 minutes, 17 Iraqi people were killed and another 24 were left wounded. Share this via Email The Intercept reports that others who tried to run for cover were killed by machine gunfire. [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. The shooting then turned heavier, Khalaf said, his eyes red-brimmed and serious. A State Department employee who was walking into the department's Baghdad operations center on the day of the incident heard a radio call from the convoy: "Contact, contact, contact! [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. This wasn't the first time that Blackwater was involved in an unnecessary shooting. [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. "[32] 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. [54] He enlisted in 1999, and served in Bosnia with the 3rd Infantry Division. US: Close Legal Loopholes Allowing Contractors to Act with Impunity, Letter to US Rep. David Price (D-NC) in Support of Accountability for US Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, Ukraine: Izium Apartment Victims Need Justice, Indian Girls Alleged Rape and Murder Sparks Protests, Joint Statement: UAE Human Rights Record Ahead of COP28, Video: Violence and Rape by Zimbabwe Gov't Forces After Protests. [41], On September 18, 2007, an Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman said Blackwater is "not allowed to operate anywhere in the Republic of Iraq". His brother then headed to the square, where he called Haythem to tell him he had found a charred white car with a license plate number written in the sand. Other ways to share After roughly 20 minutes of shooting, the Blackwater guards convoy drove out of the square, leaving multicolored smoke bombs in their wake. ", Failure to Uncover the Fate of Syrias Missing, Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people in close to 100 countries worldwide, spotlighting abuses and bringing perpetrators to justice. [19] According to this account, the security team fired warning shots and then lethal fire at the Kia. The audit also revealed that Blackwater overbilled at least $70,000 in travel costs. One of the men I met in Istanbul wrote me after I returned home. [28] TST 22 arrived at Nisour Square after Raven 23 had left; when TST 22 tried to withdraw, its route was blocked by Iraqi Army and Police vehicles. The Untold Truth Of The Blackwater Massacre - Grunge Adrienne Ballenger . Sadly, this lawsuit may be the only way that the victims and their families receive remotely adequate compensation for their losses. "I thought I was dying.". The Nisour Square massacreoccurred on September 16, 2007, when employees of BlackwaterSecurity Consulting (now Constellis), a private military companycontracted 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. Khalaf recounted the events of that day to a hushed room of lawyers with laptops. None of the bullets the lab had available could be matched to the rifles used by the guards. stunt double: Courtney B. Turk Niko Dalman . The team is suing Blackwater on behalf of the victims of the Sept. 16 shooting. Meanwhile, the Blackwater guards continue to maintain that they "didn't shoot at anybody that wasn't shooting at me," as Liberty stated in an interview with the Associated Press. He waited and waited, and eventually went home without them. Explained: Why Trump's pardon to Blackwater contractors is [55], On April 1, 2009, the Associated Press reported that forensic tests on bullets were inconclusive. [42] A spokesman stated that the ban would last for the duration of the investigation, and that it would not be permanent. UN criticises Trump's pardons for Blackwater guards jailed over Iraq An Iraqi looks 24 September 2007, at a burnt car on the site where Blackwater guards who were escorting US embassy officials opened fire in the western Baghdad neighbourhood of Yarmukh, a shootout . At the end of the day, none of the Blackwater guards deny what they did, they just deny that there was any wrongdoing. At least four other Iraqis have been reported killed in that incident on Sept. 9. Stuck in heavy traffic on the opposite side of the square from Yarmouk road, he heard the shooting start. The State Department has offered family members $10,000 for those killed in the Sept. 16 shootings -- an amount most consider insultingly low and have refused. Haythem, the composed, articulate and powerfully calm father and husband of Ahmed and Mohasin, who died in the white car, expected them to pick him up at the health center where he worked that afternoon. Despite the reports and investigations that determined that the use of force was unjustified, the Blackwater guards maintain that they'd "never take an innocent life. They then set off stun grenades to clear the scene. (These remarks were never actually delivered; the Department of Justice launched an investigation the day before the hearing and asked the committee not to discuss the details of the Sept. 16 incident. Share this via LinkedIn The pardons are one of several the US president has granted to American service personnel and contractors accused or convicted of crimes against non-combatants and civilians in war zones. Khalaf's observations are backed up by official accounts, including leaked FBI findings, which concluded that at least 14 of the 17 shooting deaths were unjustified, and statements by military. His brother went to the emergency room, then to the morgue. [26][27] A U.S. Army convoy arrived at 12:39p.m., backed by air cover, to escort TST 22 back to the Green Zone. However, after "Raven 23" entered Nisour Square, Watson was ordered to "lock down the traffic circle to expedite the travel of [the other Blackwater team]". [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. [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". NPR reports that sometime after the Al-Qaeda bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen in October 2000, where 17 sailors were killed, Blackwater won a $46 million contract from the U.S government for "training sailors in counterterrorism."
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