Ahmed Haythem and his mother, Mohasin, were both killed in the Blackwater shootings in Baghdad on September 16, 2007. We are taking fire from insurgents and Iraqi police. Two days after the meeting with Carroll, Richter and Thomas were told by an embassy official to "leave Iraq immediately.". In an instant, Ahmed was shot through the head. [14], On October 2, 2007, the Democratic staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released a report stating that Blackwater USA guards had used deadly force weekly in Iraq and had inflicted "significant casualties and property damage". Fifteen minutes later, the four-car convoy continued around the square and drove away. [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". Haythem Ahmed was barely able to identify his son and his wife when he got to the scene, since their car had been completely burned. [19] A Blackwater spokeswoman responded to the findings by saying Blackwater "supports the stringent accountability of the industry. But the accounts of Khalaf and others contradict each of Prince's assertions. Slattern was sentenced to life and the others to 30 years in prison each. [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. Associated Press WASHINGTON Four former Blackwater Worldwide security guards were convicted and immediately jailed Wednesday for their roles in a deadly 2007 shooting in Baghdad's Nisour Square. The Nisour Square massacre occurred on September 16, 2007, when employees of Blackwater Security Consulting (now Constellis), a private military company contracted 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. [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. "If you perceive marriage as half of your life, Mohasin was my best half," he said. Although one military review found that "all of the killings were unjustified and potentially criminal," in November 2007, the FBI determined that only 14 out of the 17 killings were unjustified, according to Reuters. Interviews with victims and witnesses to the Sept. 16 shooting in Nissour Square bring to light more information about the problems caused by private contractors, which have effectively operated with impunity as they've brought violence and widespread ill will to US operations in Iraq. It's all the news that's fit to watch. They claimed they were fired on, but prosecutors . In the span of 20 minutes, 17 Iraqi people were killed and another 24 were left wounded. 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. And Blackwater is not the only problem. However, there's never been any evidence that the Blackwater convoy took hostile fire. Ahmed would count upwards of 40 bullet holes in their car alone. And in 80% of the cases, Blackwater guards were the ones firing first. 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. Nisour Square massacre - Wikipedia The Blackwater company itself wasn't charged. A rocket grenade was fired into one of the cars, killing its driver. According to CNN, between January and September 2005, Blackwater guards fired their guns 195 times, "an average of 1.4 times a week." Essentially, Prince wanted a "free-market version" of military training. Join our movement today. Donald Trump has pardoned the four contractors jailed over the killing of 14 civilians. Haythem eventually told him that "if he could give me my loved ones, I would gladly give him $200 million.". [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. In fact, they even renewed the contract in 2008. The logs depicted "a hectic eight minutes in which the guards repeatedly reported incoming gunfire from insurgents and Iraqi police". [6][85][86] Jurors sided with prosecutors' contention that the shooting was a criminal act, not a battlefield encounter gone wrong. None of the bullets the lab had available could be matched to the rifles used by the guards. Blackwater was even hired by the Department of Homeland Security during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and according to PBS, collected "more than $70 million in hurricane-related contracts. Khalaf, who was there before the shooting began, said he never saw anyone fire on or approach the convoy. They just want to see those responsible punished. Share this via Reddit Now they'll go free. and thus prosecution by U.S. Between 2004 and 2008, the State Department ended giving Blackwater more than $1 billion in contracts. [37] A senior aide to al-Maliki said that three of the Blackwater guards were Iraqis and could be subject to prosecution. I am overwhelmed with emotion at this fantastic news.. The Blackwater team also claimed that some of the "aggressors" were dressed like Iraqi Police as well as civilians. Tasks of the PMC are the support and training of military and police operations. "Everyone loved him. In total, the defendants faced 14 counts of voluntary manslaughter and 20 counts of attempted manslaughter. The security industry has evolved drastically since those events, and under the direction of new ownership and leadership, Academi has invested heavily in compliance and ethics programmes, training for our employees, and preventative measures to strictly comply with all US and local government laws.. - 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. Graphs are temporarily unavailable due to technical issues. the American security company Blackwater ("Black water") was founded in 1997, seal commando Erik Prince and shooting coach al Clark. He spent the next three days in the hospital and underwent major surgery on his right arm, which was fractured by a bullet. In addition, the vehicles that were meant to protect diplomats were "poorly maintained," and during one party, four drunk Blackwater guards had crashed a $180,000 armored vehicle into a concrete barrier. However, according to the Joint Audit of Blackwater Contract, the State Department offered little-to-no oversight of Blackwater's performance or cost, and often monthly invoices were "paid without adequate review of support documentation." With experience learned from a similar lawsuit filed two years ago against US contractors implicated in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison scandal, Burke O'Neil is perhaps the only law firm in the nation that could so quickly gather eyewitness and victim accounts, make the right legal arguments and begin the process of holding Blackwater to account. At stake is the future of other innocent lives, as well as America's reputation throughout the Middle East and across the world. A few token prosecutions of a handful of Blackwater employees will not be enough. Assadi, 31, a stoic, unsmiling man, became the head of the family after his older brother Usama was killed in the shootings. But according to ICD, some of the plaintiffs claimed that they were "forced to accept the settlement.". The private military company branched structure consisting of more than a dozen offices reporting the managing organization Xe Services. 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. [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 FBI also concluded that there was no evidence to support Blackwater's claims that they'd been fired upon by Iraqi civilians. And none of the I.P. They then set off stun grenades to clear the scene. Opinion | Trump's Most Disgusting Pardons - The New York Times
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