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Victims were everywhere. Why Is Assange in Jail and Not Seymour Hersh? [6][86] Bringing the weapons charges was disputed within the Justice Department, which initially opposed including them in the indictment. 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. [93], On December 19, 2018, Slatten was found guilty of murder[94] and again was sentenced to life in prison on August 14, 2019. Nasser, who attended the 2014 trial in the United States, said his brother's death had broken his father's heart. Again, I knew my clients would be pleased to know that justice had been served and their rights had been protected. I commented when the convictions were first brought that I was certain my clients who were still residents of Iraq were pleased to know that justice had been served. "How are these criminals released after they killed 17 innocent people?" "[46] Hasan Jaber Salman, a lawyer who was one of the wounded, said that "no one did anything to provoke Blackwater" and that "as we turned back they opened fire at all cars from behind"[61] An Iraqi police officer who was directing traffic at the scene said Blackwater guards "became the terrorists" when they opened fire on civilians unprovoked, while a businessman said he wasn't seeking compensation but only "the truth" from the guards. Using the good offices of his sister Betsy Devos, who worked as Trumps secretary of education, Erik Prince even made an offer to Trump for the outsourcing of the Afghanistan war to private military contractors advising and assisting Afghan security forces following the withdrawal of US troops. 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. 3", is named Paul Slough. Because any state, particularly those pursuing socialist policies, that dares to challenge the Western monopoly over global trade and economic policies is internationally isolated and its national economy goes bankrupt over a period of time. December 23, 2020 at 2:57 pm. As shootings in the square were not uncommon, it is unclear whether the shells were from the shooting in question or from other incidents. 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. Baghdad massacre: US court finds ex-Blackwater mercenary guilty of Blackwater is an American private military company . [26][29], An Iraqi government account of the incident stated that as the convoy drew close to Nisour Square, a Kia sedan with a woman and her adult 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. [41], On September 18, 2007, an Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman said Blackwater is "not allowed to operate anywhere in the Republic of Iraq". After the convictions, Blackwater which changed its name to Xe and then Academi after being sold said it was relieved that the justice system has completed its investigation into a tragedy that occurred at Nisour Square in 2007 and that any wrongdoing that was carried out has been addressed by our courts. President Donald Trump's decision to pardon four Blackwater private security contractors convicted of a massacre in Baghdad has been met with fury by the victims' families in Iraq. The incident was allegedly resolved only after another Blackwater contractor pointed his weapon at the man still firing and ordered him to stop. "I think what that does is it sends the wrong message to the people of Iraq, who we told we were going to come in and protect, and to the rest of the world, that the pillars of justice upon which the United States is based on has a crack in it," he says. "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. [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. Blackwater Worldwide - The New York Times My clients assuredly feel ignored, mistreated, and used. Notorious mercenaries convicted of massacre in Iraq pardoned by Trump 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. Mohammed was thrilled when the U.S. entered Baghdad years earlier in 2003. 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. He was shot while seated in a public bus. Trump Pardons Blackwater Contractors Who Killed Iraqis [101][102] The Iraqi Foreign Ministry urged the United States to reconsider, declaring the pardons "did not take into account the seriousness of the crime committed".[103]. The pardons have reduced American talk of human rights to mere "slogans," he said, adding, "They prefer animals over humans, and then they talk about human rights, justice and humanity. Ghasson Mahmood was a 55-year-old civil engineer. Four Blackwater security guards convicted in 2014 of carrying out a massacre of Iraqi civilians, sparking an international outcry over the use of mercenaries in war . [54] He received an honorable discharge in 2002 and then enlisted in the Texas National Guard. ", "By investigating these crimes and completing legal proceedings, the US complied with its obligations under international law," she added. Bulk comes from private military companies of the Blackwater/Academi kind. The four armored vehicles drove away. Dozens of witnesses were brought to the United States to testify about what happened on September 16, 2007. The State Department announced an American-Iraqi joint commission to investigate both the shooting and the broader issue of employing private security contractors. He could not understand what was happening or why. The Nisour Square Massacre, in which Blackwater mercenaries fired hundreds of rounds in a crowded Baghdad traffic square, killing fourteen Iraqis, including ten women and two children, and . The U.N. Human Rights Office says it's "deeply concerned" by the pardons. It wasnt. The kind of reporting we do is essential to democracy, but it is not easy, cheap, or profitable. "On what basis did Trump depend on to release them? "[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. [54], Radio logs released in December 2008 seemed to affirm that the guards had been responding to an attack on September 16. In his meetings with the high-ups in the US national security agencies, Erik Prince reportedly obtained a gentlemans promise, though without any documentary assurances due to the secretive nature of the Faustian pact, that he and his associates would not be held legally liable for the dirty work they do in the Ukraine proxy war. The massacre took place in 2007, when the four were working as guards for Blackwater, a private military contractor, on an assignment in Baghdad. What Is Blackwater? Lead FBI investigator in Blackwater case likens Iraq massacre to My Lai [77] "Prosecutors should therefore have built their case against the men without them", a BBC report explained. Free shipping for many products! Hassan Salman is among the Iraqis who were shot during the ambush. Sarah Holewinski, Washington director at Human Rights Watch, said Trump's pardons were an insult to justice, "but it's also an insult to the victims. "With those sentences reversed by the stroke of a pen, who will trust the American justice system again?". Let us assume that I travel to America and kill 17 American citizens. Luckily, before his SUV was attacked, Mohammed, his sister, and their children had time to duck into the car. Shots were fired everywhere. [12] The U.S. State Department has said that "innocent life was lost",[13] and according to The Washington Post, a military report appeared to corroborate "the Iraqi government's contention that Blackwater was at fault". Mohammed knew his sons injuries were fatal, but he had to try. Why did it happen? [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. Nisour Square massacre - Wikipedia Six of my Blackwater brethren contractors are on the helicopter going to Tikrit. Nicholas Slatten, 35, was a former security guard at the private US military firm Blackwater and was based in Baghdad. [36], On September 19, as a result of the incident, the United States temporarily suspended all land travel by U.S. diplomats and other civilian officials in Iraq outside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone. [37][38] The incident caused Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to call on the U.S. government to end its contract with Blackwater USA,[39] and for the Iraqi government to push for an apology, compensation for victims or their families and for the guards involved in the shooting to be held "accountable". 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. Rogers. US pardons Blackwater guards: An 'affront to justice' - UN experts An ambulance was called, and Ali and Mohammad were rushed to the other side of town. Not a one! "I don't know what I did to Blackwater," Kinani told ABC News. He saw the man next to him run. [78] The opinion elaborated "the government failed to establish that the Iraqi witnesses it presented to the second grand jury were not in any way influenced by their previous exposure to the defendants' compelled statements. The result of the long legal battle is that each man was ensured a fair trial, free of partiality and without unjust favor. Blackwater Mercenaries: NATO's Secret Weapon in Ukraine War Their route home was through Nisour Square. The American judiciary is fair and equitable. "[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. [1][2][3] The killings outraged Iraqis and strained relations between Iraq and the United States. [1] Russian forces seize huge Ukrainian nuclear plant, fire extinguisher: https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/top-wrap-1-europes-largest-nuclear-power-plant-fire-after-russian-attack-mayor-2022-03-04/.