I sued Blackwater, its founder Erik Prince, and the four men who were convicted of murder, manslaughter, or weapons charges in a civil lawsuit filed in North Carolina, the home of Blackwaters headquarters and training facility in Moyock. [25][31], The account by the Blackwater firm differed from the Iraqi government's account; Blackwater's account stated the driver of the Kia sedan had kept driving toward the convoy, ignoring verbal orders, hand signals, and water bottles thrown at the car, and continued to approach even when fired upon. [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". Slatten faced a potential sentence of life in prison. The massacre took place in 2007, when the four were working as guards for Blackwater, a private military contractor, on an assignment in Baghdad. Ukraine War Anniversary: UN and China Work for Peace, Devilish Zelensky, Kiev Hid Its Dead Soldiers in the Ravines. [54], Radio logs released in December 2008 seemed to affirm that the guards had been responding to an attack on September 16. "This was the slaughter of innocent civilians who were merely going about their day when a Blackwater convoy rolled through a traffic circle after having violated orders to stand down and not exit the Green Zone and began firing indiscriminately into cars that were carrying people going to work.". [63] The suit was settled for an undisclosed sum in January 2010. His mother also suffered a stroke, he added. . Depicting a doomsday scenario in order to malign Russias calculated offensive in Ukraine to minimize collateral damage, mainstream reporting focused today on thefire that broke out [1] at Zaporizhzhia plant, one of Europes largest nuclear power plants situated 550 km southeast of Kyiv. "Pardoning the Blackwater contractors is an affront to justice and to the victims of the Nisour Square massacre and their families," said Jelena Aparac, Chair . Dickinson says that the victims' families are likely to feel let down and abandoned by the U.S. government. Rogers.
'I hope she's scarred for life' Recalling my time as a Blackwater [97], On December 22, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump granted full presidential pardons to Slatten, Slough, Liberty, and Heard.
Former Blackwater mercenary convicted of Baghdad civilian massacre A. [40], On October 11, 2007, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed suit against Blackwater USA under the Alien Tort Claims Act on behalf of an injured Iraqi and the families of three of the seventeen Iraqis who were killed by Blackwater employees during the September 16, 2007, shooting incident. Now they'll go free. The U.N. Human Rights Office says it's "deeply concerned" by the pardons. Mohammed knew his sons injuries were fatal, but he had to try. December 23, 2020 at 2:57 pm. Three Ex-Blackwater Guards Are Resentenced in Iraq War Massacre The men will serve about half of their original 30-year sentences for their roles in a 2007 shooting of unarmed civilians in Iraq . Dec. 24, 2020 Mohammed Hafedh Abdulrazzaq Kinani with a photo of his 9-year-old son, Ali, who was killed by Blackwater. It looks at the rise of private security contractors such as Blackwater in the era of modern warfare. "Today we were surprised that the American president issued a decision to pardon these criminals, murderers and thugs," Salman said, speaking from Baghdad. In 2002, Blackwater received its first contract from the United States government. Everything was eerily quiet.
Trump's pardon of Blackwater contractors convicted of massacre greeted [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. However, the company was allowed to continue to operate in Iraq until January 2009 when the U.S.Iraq Status of Forces Agreement took effect.
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. An ambulance was called, and Ali and Mohammad were rushed to the other side of town. He was shot in the abdomen. Monday's sentencing was. [46] On September 21, CNN reported that Blackwater would resume normal operations the following day. That may be the overriding damage caused by these pardons. A caption at the bottom of the screen states . On Tuesday, President Trump pardoned four former Blackwater contractors convicted in the killings. Despite the public display of uncharacteristic valor by sporting military fatigues and flaunting images and video clips of soldiers proudly standing beside caches of MANPADS and Javelins on social media, Ukraines conscript army was so frightened following Russias military intervention that it wanted to surrender territory and opted instead for mounting guerrilla warfare by adopting hit-and-run tactics from the safety of border regions of Poland and Romania. The Iraqi government and Iraqi police investigator Faris Saadi Abdul stated that the killings were unprovoked. . The Nisour Square massacre was one of the most prominent events of the US-Iraq conflict, raising doubts about America's true intentions in the region. As he was leaving, his youngest son, who was affectionately given the nickname Alawi, asked to go with his father. The Blackwater incident cost the American military in the Middle East a lot more, experts interviewed by RT believe. "[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. Of the $10 billion humanitarian and military assistance for Ukraine announced by the Biden administration, the top brass of the Pentagon is reportedly making preparations for allocating a significant portion of the funds for providing military training and arms to almost a million refugees who have fled Ukraine following the war. Witnesses described how the American men ambushed the civilians unprovoked, firing on Baghdad's Nisour Square with heavy gunfire and grenade launchers. "I consider what the security company personnel have done is a terrorist act, as many civilians were martyred and wounded," said Hashem, 41, a father of five who was partially disabled and forced to retire after the incident. The Nisour Square massacre was the FBIs most comprehensive and expensive criminal investigation since 9/11. [68][69], On September 24, 2007, the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior announced it would file criminal charges against the Blackwater staff involved in the shooting, although it is unclear how some of them will be brought to trial.
I Sued Blackwater for the Massacre of Iraqi Civilians. Trump Just That day changed my life forever. The hospital was too busy. Erik Prince said that he didn't believe the FBI had fully investigated the sources of all the used bullets in Nisour Square, arguing that it would have been helpful if the defense had been in possession of a complete ballistics report. 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 the car towards the Blackwater TST. [44] Blackwater's operations on behalf of the U.S. Department of State and the CIA may be unaffected by license revocation. [I]f such a thing happened in America or Britain, would the American president or American citizens accept it? Dark Truth Exposed: East Palestine Rail Disaster, BOAC 707 Sabotage, Why people should start business in Lithuania, Best Strategy To Play Online Baccarat Games, Effects of Incontinence in Various Areas of Life, Conversations from the porch Episode 19 with Jack Heart &, Covert Operations In Vietnam: The Incomplete History of US-Norway Collaboration. The Nisour Square massacre was one of the most publicized US crimes of the 8-year Iraq war. The Nisour Square massacre was the FBI's most comprehensive and expensive criminal investigation since 9/11. Bullets were everywhere. The ones who were killed on the street were shot running for their lives. The incident was allegedly resolved only after another Blackwater contractor pointed his weapon at the man still firing and ordered him to stop. RT has asked experts to share their thoughts on what the incident meant for Washington's Middle East policy and the likelihood of another tragedy like this. The risk is now that the U.S., who has a presence worldwide, has exposure for how they might be treated or what people of other countries might think could happen or would happen if war crimes are committed by U.S. citizens abroad. Although the Pentagons military contractors have been known to be training and advising several brigades of neo-Nazis backed by Ukraines security forces in the Donbas region since 2014, Erik Prince along with his associates from several other private security firms providing military contractors to the US Department of Defense personally visited Kyiv early last month following the Russian troop build-up and met with security officials of the Zelensky regime, according to informed sources. [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. 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. Ali was slumped over against the glass. He was shot while seated in a public bus. But supporters of the military contractors, who argued the investigation was tainted and the punishments too severe, cheered the news. His domains of expertise include neocolonialism, military-industrial complex, and petro-imperialism. [55], On April 1, 2009, the Associated Press reported that forensic tests on bullets were inconclusive. It wasnt. He was left with shrapnel in his body from the rocket launched grenade that was fired into his vehicle as he escaped. [24] The driver of the Kia was shot once in the head by a Blackwater contractor and was killed. 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. "They prefer animals over humans, and then they talk about human rights, justice and humanity," said an Iraqi man whose brother was among those killed in 2007. The four guards Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, Dustin Heard and Nicholas Slatten were part of an armoured convoy that opened fire indiscriminately with machine-guns, grenade launchers and a sniper on a crowd of unarmed people in a square in the Iraqi capital. Blackwater was founded by ex-Navy SEAL Erik Prince in 1997 as a shooting range and military training ground in Moyock, North Carolina. Mohammed turned his bullet-riddled SUV around and drove back to the closest hospital only a few blocks behind him. Five independent UN experts condemned United States President Donald Trump's pardoning of private security contractors, convicted in 2015 for war crimes in Iraq, on Wednesday. [70] A second civil lawsuit filed jointly by the families of six victims against Blackwater was settled on January 6, 2012 for an undisclosed sum. The key people in this have not spoken with investigators. The Blackwater guards appeared to have fired grenade launchers in addition to machine guns, according to the report. The majority of the Blackwater mercenaries in Iraq after the . Mohammed was glad Saddams reign of terror was finally ending. [14] The Iraqi government vowed to punish Blackwater. [16] The FBI investigation found that, of the 17 Iraqis killed by the guards, at least 14 were shot without cause. He was told that he had to go to a neurologic hospital on the other side of Baghdad. [18][30] Iraqi investigators also alleged that Blackwater helicopters fired into the cars from the air, as at least one car had bullet holes in its roof; Blackwater has denied any of its aerial units discharged weapons. https://www.ournewearthnews.com/2022/03/04/massacre-in-ukraine-caught-on-camera-and-probably-still-unfolding-viewer-discretion-advised-please-pray/.