The Blackwater guards also shot at cars, taxis, and buses. 10:45. It remains unclear whether the team member mistook the civilians for insurgents. "[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. - Asser Institute (Decision Date: 31 December 2009)", "Ex-Blackwater Guards Face Renewed Charges", "Blackwater guards face new U.S. charges for Iraq shooting deaths", "Legal questions loom in Blackwater convictions", "Blackwater guards found guilty in Iraq shootings", "Emails Reveal Discord Over Blackwater Charges", "Ex-Blackwater Guards Sentenced to Long Prison Terms in 2007 Killings of Iraqi Civilians", "U.S. Appeals Court Tosses Ex-Blackwater Guard's Conviction in 2007 Baghdad Massacre", "Murder conviction in Blackwater case thrown out, other sentences overturned", "In Blackwater Case, Court Rejects a Murder Conviction and Voids 3 Sentences", Recent Case: D.C. Blackwater Security Consulting, also known as Blackwater Worldwide, was founded in 1997 by Al Clark and Erik Prince as a private security firm. The company said the civilians were killed during a shootout after one of their convoys came under attack in Nisoor Square, in an affluent neighbourhood of the capital. In some instances, like in 2004 when Blackwater members were hired to locate and assassinate top Al-Qaeda operatives, they failed to capture or kill anyone. [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. [80], On April 22, 2011, after closed-door testimony, a federal appeals-court panel revived the Justice Department's prosecution of the former Blackwater Worldwide guards by reinstating the manslaughter charges against the five men. The Untold Truth Of The Blackwater Massacre, no evidence to support Blackwater's claims, Business and Human Rights Resource Centre. This case study addresses on incident that arose with one such contractor, Blackwater Worldwide. Former Blackwater security guard, convicted of murder in 2014 for his role in the Nisour Square massacre. If it is determined that one person was complicit in the wrongdoing, we would support accountability in that. [28] Nicholas Slatten was found guilty of first-degree murder, and Slough, Liberty and Heard were found guilty of voluntary and attempted manslaughter charges, and of using a machine gun to commit a violent crime. [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. RT. TwoFeather - 308 Views. We are trying to do for the national security apparatus what FedEx did for the Postal Service. State Department investigators of the September 16h Blackwater Nisour Square shooting have granted limited immunity to Blackwater operators who were present at the incident, according to the . . Authorities said most were unarmed, shot as they ran for cover the youngest . "[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. [93], On December 19, 2018, Slatten was found guilty of murder[94] and again was sentenced to life in prison on August 14, 2019. 9:42. He is a security advisor and a high-risk expedition leader across former and active conflict zones such as Eastern Ukraine, unrecognized post-Soviet states, the North Caucasus, and the Middle East. The incident led to at least five investigations and although the Blackwater guards repeatedly claimed that their actions were justified, several of them came to the opposite conclusion. 273 comments. He has utilized KGB-era narrative control devices to flood social media with disinformation. The Blackwater Massacre and What Really Happened in Nisour Square. The square footage of a room measuring 20 feet wide by 20 feet long is 400 square feet. And despite subsequent trials, it's unclear if the victims of the massacre and their families got the justice they deserve. Following this, it became one of the main private military companies employed in Iraq, but soon earned a reputation for being trigger happy and going rogue. The vehicle struck the . The trial lasted ten weeks, and the FBI had flown in 30 witnesses from Iraq, which marked the largest number of foreign witnesses to ever be brought to the US in a criminal trial. But the inquiry was abandoned after Blackwater's top manager there issued a threat: "that he could kill" the government's chief investigator and "no one could or . 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. Viciously murdering a foreign entity that has been leveling your country for a month and doing just as worse if not the same, i.e bombing hospitals, kindergartens, civilians etc. Around midday on September 16, 2007, Ahmed Haithem Ahmed and his mother Mohassin were driving to the hospital to pick up Ahmed's father, Haythem, who worked as a pathologist. On 16 September 2007, Blackwater employees escorted a convoy of US State Department vehicles to a meeting in western Baghdad. The audit also revealed that Blackwater overbilled at least $70,000 in travel costs. The four were accused in connection with a Sept. 16, 2007, incident in Baghdad's Nisour Square, where 14 unarmed civilians were killed and 17 others were wounded. TwoFeather - 268 Views. [19] A Blackwater spokeswoman responded to the findings by saying Blackwater "supports the stringent accountability of the industry. [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. The killings outraged Iraqis and strained relations . Circuit Holds It Cruel and Unusual to Impose Mandatory Thirty-Year Sentence on Military Contractors for Gun Charge, "Former Blackwater contractor found guilty of murder in Iraq massacre", "Former Blackwater Guard Sentenced to Life for 2007 Baghdad Traffic-Circle Shooting", "Former Blackwater security contractor sentenced to life in Iraq shootings; In all, 10 men, two women and two boys, ages 9 and 11, were killed", "Blackwater Contractors Resentenced in 2007 Attack on Baghdad Civilians", "Survivors of Blackwater massacre in Iraq slam Trump's pardons for US guards behind killing", "Statement from the Press Secretary Regarding Executive Grants of Clemency", "Relative of Blackwater victim in Iraq says pardons 'unfair', "UN criticises Trump's pardons for Blackwater guards jailed over Iraq killings", "I Sued Blackwater for the Massacre of Iraqi Civilians. USP Coleman I was opened in 2001, and in 2004 Clark Construction completed a 555,000-square-foot (51,600 m 2) additional component for USP Coleman II. Other times, Blackwater guards left a trail of civilian casualties. And in 80% of the cases, Blackwater guards were the ones firing first. A security detail from the . On September 16, a Blackwater USA security unit returning to base after having dropped off the person it was guarding opened fire at Nisour Square, near Baghdad's Green Zone. [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". [34], In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, Blackwater's rights to conduct work in Iraq were temporarily suspended. Raven 23 "returned defensive fire" and withdrew from Nisour Square with one of its BearCat vehicles in tow. Ultimately, Blackwater repeatedly insisted that their guards "were fired upon and responded appropriately." Raven 23's commander Jimmy Watson reportedly made the "tactical decision" to go to Nisour Square and block traffic for an evacuation route. The convoy enters Nisour Square from the south, driving on an access road from the Iraqi Army base. But this was likely due to the fact that the U.S.Iraq Status of Forces Agreement, which took effect in 2009, ended contractor immunity. In the span of 20 minutes, 17 Iraqi people were killed and another 24 were left wounded. [16] The FBI investigation found that, of the 17 Iraqis killed by the guards, at least 14 were shot without cause. Circuit ordered for a new trial to be held, stating that Slatten should've had a separate trial. [6][86] Bringing the weapons charges was disputed within the Justice Department, which initially opposed including them in the indictment. "The civilians that were fired upon, they didn't have any weapons to fire back at them. "Watergate" usually refers to all the corrupt practices of the Nixon administration, and not just the break-in itself. Salman ran over to the car and as he raised his hand to stop the shooting, the Blackwater guards responded by shooting Mohassin dead as she clung to her son, reports NPR. Fareed Walid Hassan remembers that "the shooting started like rain." Rogers. I am interested in gender studies and economics, which I plan to major in in college. POV from Ukrainian tank during an offensive, Point blank kills: intense trench firefight caught on GoPro camera. The Russian Deep State. 132. I also love stand-up comedy! We just need to measure two consecutive sides in feet and multiply the values together. Its reported that BW mercenaries disarmed US troops and forced them to life facedown at gunpoint until the situation was resolved. The square footage of a room measuring 12 feet wide by 12 feet long is 144 square feet. They were tasked with providing security services to the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia as well as a different CIA base that was at the center for the mission to capture Osama bin Laden. The State Department announced an American-Iraqi joint commission to investigate both the shooting and the broader issue of employing private security contractors. Reports differ on what actually happened at Nisour Square that caused the employees to open fireBlackwater claimed that Iraqi insurgents had ambushed the convoy and the Blackwater employees were returning fire. [41], Richard J. Griffin, the Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security, who made key decisions regarding the department's oversight of private security contractor Blackwater USA, resigned in November 2007, after a critical review by the House Oversight Committee found that his office had failed to adequately supervise private contractors during the Blackwater Baghdad shootings. I am a senior at Berkeley High School in Berkeley, California, and I swim and play water polo. Slough, Liberty and Heard were convicted on multiple charges of voluntary and attempted. [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. While reports differ on the death toll, the Iraqi government eventually found that the Blackwater employees had killed 17 civilians and injured 20 more. The Nisour Square massacre was a blot the US cannot get rid of even today. . 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