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. Our civil case resulted in a resolution that was acceptable to the parties. The black-ops of NATOs mercenaries in Ukraine were being directed from Ukraines Security Service (SSU) headquarter and the main center for information and psychological operations in Kyiv. In his testimony, Prince noted that, "It seems the ballistics analysis was done to prove the guilt of the Americans, not to just try to identify what happened there." Trump's Blackwater Pardons Reveal Security Contractor - JURIST Hassan Salman is among the Iraqis who were shot during the ambush. "Paul Slough and his colleagues didn't deserve to spend one minute in prison," Brian Heberlig, a lawyer for Slough, told The Associated Press. [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". U.S. troops were coming under fire in Baghdad and major Iraqi cities from the resistance forces. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater and the Unsung Heroes of the, at the best online prices at eBay! Trump pardons ex-campaign aide and disgraced Republican lawmakers, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Despite having immense firepower at its disposal that could readily turn the tide in conflicts as protracted as Syrias proxy war, the Russian advance in Ukraine has been slower than expected according to most estimates because Russia is only targeting military infrastructure and doing all it can to minimize collateral damage, particularly needless civilian losses in the former Soviet republic whose majority population is sympathetic to Russia. [57], In October 2007, the United Nations released a two-year study that stated that private contractors, although hired as "security guards", were performing military duties. [46] On September 21, CNN reported that Blackwater would resume normal operations the following day. Why Is Assange in Jail and Not Seymour Hersh? Likewise, the civil case ran through North Carolina state court, was removed to federal court, and then sent back to state court. The four were convicted at then VP Joe Biden's insistence, and were serving jail terms. He was shot while seated in a public bus. [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. Who would hold party elites accountable to the values they proclaim to have? "I'm really shocked. An Iraqi looks at a burned car in Nisour Square in the western Baghdad neighborhood of Yarmukh, on Sept. 24, 2007, eight days after Blackwater guards who were escorting U.S. Embassy officials opened fire there. Donald Trump has pardoned the four contractors jailed over the killing of 14 civilians. 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. [44] Blackwater's operations on behalf of the U.S. Department of State and the CIA may be unaffected by license revocation. Before VT Nuclear Education: The Beirut Nuclear Coverup, The Hidden History of the Incredibly Evil Khazarian Mafia. Ukraine War Anniversary: UN and China Work for Peace, Devilish Zelensky, Kiev Hid Its Dead Soldiers in the Ravines. When Mohammed saw the convoy enter the traffic circle, he initially thought they were regular U.S. Army members. He was driving on flat tires and with a shattered windshield. Blackwater mercenaries in helicopters also fired into traffic from overhead. [21][75] In the memorandum opinion, Judge Urbina ruled the cases against Slough, Liberty, Heard, Ball, and Slatten had been improperly built on testimony given in exchange for immunity;[76] that evidence included statements the guards had been compelled to give to State Department investigators, and as these statements would have been self-incriminating, they could not be used as evidence under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Supporters of the former contractors at Blackwater Worldwide had lobbied for the pardons, arguing that the men had been excessively punished. Among the pardons made by President Trump this week, the pardon of four former guards for Blackwater has been regarded by some as particularly galling. They are coming to defend freedom, defend life. He saw the man next to him run. "We've backed off that. Ghasson Mahmood was a 55-year-old civil engineer. When #Blackwater mercenaries were murdering civilians in the #IraqWar, did these voices demand seizure of yachts owned by CEO Erik Prince? In 2014, four former government contractors who worked for Blackwater Worldwide, a security firm founded by Erik Prince an ally of Trump and the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos were convicted in federal court in Washington in connection with the killings. Ali was the youngest of Blackwaters victims that day. Blackwater Mercenaries: NATOs Secret Weapon in Ukraine War, VT RADIO: Alternative Foreign Policy Talk, Khazarian Mafia at War: The Jewish Oligarch Who Planned the Terror, Russias Future Predicted by Well-Known Christian Saints, Most Front-Line Ukrainian Soldiers Killed Within 4 Hours, How Russia managed to survive Western sanctions, How War Began The Genesis of NATOs Coup in Ukraine , From Global Warming Denial to Holocaust Denial, On this day in 1940, Woody Guthrie writes This Land Is, Former U.S. President Carter to Hospice, Will Pariah Trump Attend State, Dr. Fauci Admits COVID Shots Didnt Have A Chance Of Controlling. Dickinson says the great expense that the FBI put into the prosecution of the case has now come to nothing. More than 3,000 troops remain in Iraq, according to defense officials, with a drawdown scheduled for January. Mahde Shamke was 25 years old and driving a taxi to support his parents and siblings. "[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. The civil lawsuit was filed as a wrongful death and personal injury suit against the men and companies responsible for my clients losses. "Before he died, he went crazy as he used to go out into the street and whenever he saw a young man, he imagined that he was Mahdi," he said. By Andrew Emett - August 16, 2019 1269 SOURCE NationofChange He was shot in the abdomen. That day destroyed me completely, Kinani said. This evidentiary use of tainted information constitutes yet another Kastigar violation. Luckily, before his SUV was attacked, Mohammed, his sister, and their children had time to duck into the car. Only. 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. 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. This is not for the faint of heart but allegedly a video from the Ukraine conflict at a check-point at Mariupol which is surrounded by Russian troops. U.S. military reports appear to corroborate the Iraqi government's contention that Blackwater was at fault in the incident. Spring flowers are planted in Nisour Square, the site of a deadly shootout by Blackwater private security contractors in 2007, in Baghdad on April 15, 2015. "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.". As Raven 23 was departing Nisour Square, several members continued to discharge their weapons, causing additional civilian deaths and injuries. "Trump pardons Blackwater contractors jailed for massacre of Iraq civilians", 23 December 2020. These men will now be free, despite their crimes, and they will not serve the time in prison they deserved. The four armored vehicles drove away. But Trump reached a peace agreement with the Taliban and then lost the re-election bid before he could consider the bizarre proposal. [73], The trial was set for early 2010,[74] but the charges were dismissed by United States District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Ricardo Urbina on December 31, 2009, who ruled that the Justice Department had mishandled evidence and violated the guards' constitutional rights. They claimed they were fired on, but. [4] In 2014, four Blackwater employees were tried[5] and convicted in U.S. federal court; one of murder, and the other three of manslaughter and firearms charges;[6] all four convicted were controversially pardoned[7] by President Donald Trump in December 2020,[8] in violation of international law. Mohammed knew his sons injuries were fatal, but he had to try. Their cover: "return of Ukrainians from the French Foreign Legion.". [24] The driver of the Kia was shot once in the head by a Blackwater contractor and was killed. courts. 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." After the September 11th attacks, Blackwater expanded their security-related work . Ali was slumped over against the glass. Blackwater Trial: What You Need to Know - NBC News His sister was safe. Nisour Square massacre - Wikipedia "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. About the author:Nauman Sadiq is an Islamabad-based geopolitical and national security analyst focused on geostrategic affairs and hybrid warfare in the Af-Pak and the Middle East regions. The Blackwater mercenaries were among the most flagrant killers in Iraq but hardly unique. Nicholas Slatten, 35, was a former security guard at the private US military firm Blackwater and was based in Baghdad. Shots were fired everywhere. Trump's pardon of Blackwater contractors convicted of massacre greeted "Victims of gross human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law also have the right to a remedy. Blackwater and the Corporate Mercenaries who've - NationofChange [47], The U.S. State Department said it planned to investigate what it called a "terrible incident". [I]f such a thing happened in America or Britain, would the American president or American citizens accept it? Six of my Blackwater brethren contractors are on the helicopter going to Tikrit. [6][86] Bringing the weapons charges was disputed within the Justice Department, which initially opposed including them in the indictment. Four guards fired on unarmed crowd in Baghdad in 2007, killing 14 and sparking outrage over use of private security in war zones. The men, all military veterans working in Iraq for the private security contractor Blackwater, were convicted of massacring 14 civilians in an unprovoked and unjustified rampage of gunfire and. . Prince strongly criticized the way in which federal authorities had handled the investigation and disputed the claims that U.S. or Blackwater personnel were to blame for the shootings. The four armed contractors, Scott Helvenston, Jerry Zovko, Wesley Batalona, and Mike Teague, were killed and dragged from their vehicles. Further, besides advising and assisting the UAEs petro-monarchy in strengthening the police state, Erik Prince alsoreportedly provided[3] weapons and modified aircraft to eastern Libyas warlord and former CIA asset Khalifa Haftar, backed by Egypt and UAE, in his thwarted military campaign against the Tripoli government lasting from April 2019 to June 2020. Trump pardons Blackwater killers for Nisour Square massacre "The ministry believes that this decision did not take into account the seriousness of the crime committed and was inconsistent with the U.S. administration's declared commitment to the values of human rights, justice, and the rule of law, and regrettably ignores the dignity of the victims," it said. Lead FBI investigator in Blackwater case likens Iraq massacre to My Lai When Mohammed opened the door, his son fell toward him as his skull opened and a large part of Alis brain fell onto the pavement between his fathers feet. A former security guard working for US mercenary firm Blackwater has been found guilty of murder for his role in a notorious massacre of unarmed civilians in downtown Baghdad in 2007. The State Department announced an American-Iraqi joint commission to investigate both the shooting and the broader issue of employing private security contractors. When Blackwater security guard Nicholas Slatten was tried and convicted for murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, the U.S. legal system determined that he needed a new trial. Trump's pardon of Blackwater 'Four' highlights deep divisions over Iraq "This incident motivated the Iraqi authorities to seek the withdrawal of American troops from the country. On Tuesday, President Trump pardoned four former Blackwater contractors convicted in the killings. Rogers. The majority of the Blackwater mercenaries in Iraq after the . 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 . They could not do anything for him. [41], On September 18, 2007, an Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman said Blackwater is "not allowed to operate anywhere in the Republic of Iraq". "These are four innocent guys, and it is completely justified," Bill Coffield, a lawyer for Evan Liberty, told the AP. He was left with shrapnel in his body from the rocket launched grenade that was fired into his vehicle as he escaped. Blackwater mercenaries committed a massacre. "The victims' families finally saw some measure of justice when these men were convicted in 2014 and sentenced to prison. 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. 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. 3", is named Paul Slough. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Dec. 24, 2020 Mohammed Hafedh Abdulrazzaq Kinani with a photo of his 9-year-old son, Ali, who was killed by Blackwater. My law firm received a call from an immigration attorney the next year seeking representation for the Blackwaters victims, and I was eventually retained to represent the Kinani family in a civil lawsuit against Blackwater, Prince, and various other Blackwater companies and, of course, the men who were charged and eventually convicted of murder, manslaughter, and weapons charges for their conduct. But he knew he was surviving as he kept yelling for the children in the back of his SUV to stay down. That notion has now been shown to be false, Dickinson says. Constellis did not immediately respond to requests for comment. [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 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq increasingly relied on private contractors, Blackwater being only the most infamous. [95][96] Heard, Liberty, and Slough were resentenced on September 5, 2019 to terms approximately half the original 30-year periods. 2004 Fallujah ambush - Wikipedia
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