Ukraine War Anniversary: UN and China Work for Peace, Devilish Zelensky, Kiev Hid Its Dead Soldiers in the Ravines. These men will now be free, despite their crimes, and they will not serve the time in prison they deserved. Victims were everywhere. "[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. Among his clients were the parents of a 9-year-old boy who was killed as he sat in the back of his father's car. [34], In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, Blackwater's rights to conduct work in Iraq were temporarily suspended. December 23, 2020 at 2:57 pm. Nassar Hamza was 67 years old when he was shot and wounded in the arm. [54] He served one tour in Iraq before being hired as a Personal Security Specialist in Iraq. "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 . [63] The suit was settled for an undisclosed sum in January 2010. Blackwater mercenaries in helicopters also fired into traffic from overhead. Prosecutors said the Blackwater convoy launched an unprovoked attack using sniper fire, machine guns and grenade launchers. In addition to the Kinani family, I represented five other families and victims. He was shot through the roof of his car as the Blackwater convoy drove past firing down into traffic. [32] In response to the guards' killing of the Iraqi policeman, other Iraqi police officers began to fire at the Blackwater men, who communicated to the State Department operations center that they were under attack. I represented the Kinani family and five other victims of the Blackwater guards who were convicted of killing at least 14 innocent Iraqi citizens that day and injured dozens more. I know that each of them placed great faith in the U.S. legal system. More than 3,000 troops remain in Iraq, according to defense officials, with a drawdown scheduled for January. Trump issued pardons for all four men on Tuesday. As shootings in the square were not uncommon, it is unclear whether the shells were from the shooting in question or from other incidents. Ali was the youngest of Blackwaters victims that day. The committee was co-chaired by Abd al Qadir, the Iraqi Minister of Defense, and Patricia A. Butenis, the Charg d'affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. After it was added, defense attorneys contended a 30-year sentence would be too severe, since the law was intended to deter gang members from carrying automatic weapons. 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 this 2007 video, witnesses shed light on the killing of 17 Iraqis by American contractors in Baghdad.Read the article here: http://nyti.ms/1u1cNzySubscrib. Blackwater mercenary Nicholas Slatten sentenced to life in prison for Trump's Blackwater Pardons Reveal Security Contractor - JURIST Opinion | Trump's Most Disgusting Pardons - The New York Times "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. [1][2][3] The killings outraged Iraqis and strained relations between Iraq and the United States. His sister was safe. Now justice has been undone by the stroke of a pen," Sarah Holewinski, the organization's Washington director, said in a statement. Trump Just Pardoned Those Convicted Killers", "Pardons in killings of Iraqi civilians stir angry response", "Chief of Blackwater Defends His Employees", "Tracing the Paths of 5 Who Died in a Storm of Gunfire", "Blackwater Execs Remain Free as Guards Convicted for Killing 14 Iraqis in Massacre", Use of white phosphorus by the United States, United States and the International Criminal Court, A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq, "The wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time", AfghanIraqi Freedom Memorial (Salem, Oregon), The Iraq War: A Historiography of Wikipedia Changelogs, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nisour_Square_massacre&oldid=1141803510, Violent non-state actor incidents in Asia, People convicted of murder by the United States federal government, Pages using embedded infobox templates with the title parameter, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 22:05. Not a one! [63], A U.S. judge's decision to dismiss all charges against Blackwater on January 1, 2010, sparked outrage in the Arab world. Blackwater mercenary defends role in Iraq massacre after Trump pardon 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. 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. She turned the location into an exotic bookstore and caf, offering erotica readings, among other licentious pastimes. 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." It was not an easy path in either the civil or criminal legal system. 3", is named Paul Slough. )[60], Baghdad resident Halim Mashkoor told AP Television News, "We see the security firms doing whatever they want in the streets. It looks at the rise of private security contractors such as Blackwater in the era of modern warfare. [97], On December 22, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump granted full presidential pardons to Slatten, Slough, Liberty, and Heard. As many as 504 children, women and older men were killed by a US infantry company, members of which also raped numerous women and girls. Russias reluctant and delayed military intervention in Ukraine is fundamentally a war of power projection, a shot across the bow to perfidious former allies, the East European states, whove been joining the EU and NATO in droves since the break-up of Soviet Union in 1991, that the collective security of Eurasian nations is a shared responsibility, and NATOs eastward expansion along Russias western flank not only imperils the security of resurgent Russia but also compromises the balance of power in the multipolar world. Video of the aftermath includes an image of a human brain on the road in Nisour Square. Donald Trump has pardoned the four contractors jailed over the killing of 14 civilians. Rather than mitigating the suffering of Ukraines disenfranchised masses held hostage by the Zelensky regime, the self-styled champions of human rights are doing all they can to lure Russia into their bear trap project, a term borrowed from the Soviet-Afghan War of the eighties when Western regimes used Pakistans security forces and generous funding from the oil-rich Gulf States for providing guerrilla warfare training and lethal weaponry to Afghan jihadists to bleed the security forces of former the Soviet Union in the protracted war. Russian-American political scientist Malek Dudakov called the shooting a landmark event and a major international scandal. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Who would be responsible for the myopic and vindictive policy of providing anti-aircraft munitions to Ukraines irregular militias once Kyiv falls and those MANPADS are found in black markets posing a grave risk to civilian airlines across the globe? Nasser's younger brother, Mahdi Saheb Nasser, was 22 and working as a taxi driver when he was killed in September 2007 alongside other unarmed civilians in Baghdad's Nisur Square. [6][86] Bringing the weapons charges was disputed within the Justice Department, which initially opposed including them in the indictment. An initial prosecution was thrown out by a federal judge sparking outrage in Iraq but the then vice-president, Joe Biden, promised to pursue a fresh prosecution, which succeeded in 2015. I was thinking the same thing about the Chechens a few days ago. A 20,000-strong mercenary army is being assembled in Poland. Almost everyone who was killed or injured was shot in cars, taxis, or buses. Each step of the way, the U.S. legal system ensured that these men were given fair and just prosecutions. Monday's sentencing was. Their cover: "return of Ukrainians from the French Foreign Legion.". 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. [15] The incident sparked at least five investigations, including one from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Prosecutors asserted the heavily armed Raven 23 Blackwater convoy launched an unprovoked attack using sniper fire, machine-guns and grenade launchers. In the sheer desperation to inflict maximum material damage to Russias security forces, however, NATO appears to have breached its own long-standing convention of curbing the proliferation of anti-aircraft munitions. Justice Blackwater mercenary sentenced to life in prison On Wednesday, Slatten was sentenced to life in federal prison for initiating a massacre that left 14 Iraqi civilians dead. 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 . [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. But Trump reached a peace agreement with the Taliban and then lost the re-election bid before he could consider the bizarre proposal. [2] 16,000 volunteers coming to Ukraine, Zelensky: https://www.rt.com/russia/551149-zelensky-ukraine-foreign-fighters/. They are coming to defend freedom, defend life. He was shot through the back with a massive exit wound in his chest. 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. [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. It wasnt unusual for regular U.S. Army convoys to stop traffic. courts. "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. Blackwater mercenaries committed a massacre. [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. 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 key people in this have not spoken with investigators. I felt I had done that, and I knew the prosecutors were doing that. The ones who were killed on the street were shot running for their lives. ", Human Rights Watch says the pardons "show contempt for the rule of law.". [29] The banning was described by P. W. Singer, an expert on the private military industry, as "inevitable", given the US government's reliance on and lack of oversight of the private military industry in Iraq. [47], The U.S. State Department said it planned to investigate what it called a "terrible incident". That changed yesterday with President Donald Trumps pardons. [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". [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. He was told that he had to go to a neurologic hospital on the other side of Baghdad. The Machiavellian plan of NATOs military strategists is to establish refugee settlements with the humanitarian assistance in the border regions of Ukraines neighboring countries Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria, and then provide guerrilla warfare training and lethal arms to all able-bodied men of military age in order to bleed Russias security forces in the protracted irregular warfare. First ones from 16,000. Trump Pardons Blackwater Mercenaries, Ex- - Democracy Now! While the #RussianOligarchs are vile post-Soviet capitalists, the hypocrisy of the US media is revealing. 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. [48] According to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice promised a "fair and transparent" investigation into the incident. "Pardoning them contributes to impunity and has the effect of emboldening others to commit such crimes in the future. He despised Saddam Hussein and his oppressive and vindictive ways. Mohammed and his sister screamed for their children to get down. Nicky Woolf in New York. Abraham Al Mafrage was a 70-year-old farmer and father of seven who was also shot in the head and died that day. [3] Erik Prince provided weapons and aircraft to eastern Libyas warlord Khalifa Haftar: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/25/world/middleeast/libya-mercenaries-arms-embargo.html. But NATOs covert operators embedded with Ukraines security forces reassured them that the war wasnt over and implored them to give their Western mentors a face-saving by mounting at least a semblance of resistance against the fierce onslaught by Russias professional security forces. Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater and the Unsung Heroes And it will be a success, Im sure. But unsurprisingly, he did not describe who those thousands of daredevil volunteers willing to sacrifice lives and limbs in a foreign war were. [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. In November last year, he pardoned a former US army commando who was set to stand trial over the killing of a suspected Afghan bomb-maker, and a former army lieutenant convicted of murder for ordering his men to fire at three Afghans. When Mohammed saw the convoy enter the traffic circle, he initially thought they were regular U.S. Army members. 2004 Fallujah ambush - Wikipedia Private Military Companies: Blackwater - Silent Professionals [25], A State Department spot report published the same day as the incident stated that eight to ten attackers opened fire on Raven 23 "from multiple nearby locations, with some aggressors dressed in civilian apparel and others in Iraqi police uniforms" after the convoy had entered Nisour Square,[26] starting at 12:08p.m.[27] The report added that another Blackwater Tactical Support Team (TST 22), who had escorted the officials and TST 4 back to the Green Zone, was redirected to support Raven 23. Blackwater mercenary sentenced to life in prison - NationofChange Dozens of witnesses were brought to the United States to testify about what happened. The four armed contractors, Scott Helvenston, Jerry Zovko, Wesley Batalona, and Mike Teague, were killed and dragged from their vehicles. Who would hold party elites accountable to the values they proclaim to have? What takes place doesnt mention Russian soldiers but others preventing citizens from escaping. "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. Mohammed kept seeing the man on the ground next to him being fired upon as he lay dead. 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. 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. The bullets rained through the roofs of cars, taxis and buses, he says. Mohammed had not been shot. 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. It is unfortunate and sad that those efforts have now been wasted. Luckily, before his SUV was attacked, Mohammed, his sister, and their children had time to duck into the car. Again, I knew my clients would be pleased to know that justice had been served and their rights had been protected. [I]f such a thing happened in America or Britain, would the American president or American citizens accept it? Scores of Iraqis injured in anti-government protests in Baghdad, Who will protect us?: Baghdad residents wait out fighting as city grinds to halt, Iraqi cleric tells loyalists to return to their homes after fighting in Baghdad, Deadly violence in Baghdad after leading cleric Moqtada al-Sadr says he is quitting politics, Shia factions mass in Baghdad raising fears of more unrest, Protesters storm Iraq parliament again amid unrest over Iran-backed groups, Iran may eventually get its way in protracted power struggle in Iraq, Hundreds of protesters storm Iraq parliament in support of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, Briton jailed in Iraq for smuggling antiquities to be freed, says lawyer. [37], Blackwater, which had been operating in Iraq without an Iraqi government license, applied for one after the incident, but the application was rejected by Iraqi officials in January 2009. He died in the hospital hallway surrounded by family as he was asking for water. [99], Clemency caused outrage among Iraqi citizens and family members of the victims. Covert Operations In Vietnam: The Incomplete History of US-Norway Collaboration. [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. "I am overwhelmed with emotion at this fantastic news.". How is Eric Prince still breathing? It was his business partner who lay in the pool of blood and was repeatedly shot. It wasnt. [71], In December 2008, the United States Department of Justice announced it was filing criminal charges against five of the Blackwater employees, and ordered them to surrender to the FBI. Suddenly, bullets began to riddle Mohammeds car. and thus prosecution by U.S. I Sued Blackwater for the Massacre of Iraqi Civilians. Trump Just 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. Sequence of events triggering the Nisour Square massacre, Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, Private Security Company Association of Iraq, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security, Inspector General of the U.S. State Department, United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, "U.S. Machine gunfire tore through his body. Despite losing the empire in the nineties, as far as military power is concerned, Russia with its enormous arsenal of conventional as well as nuclear weapons still more or less equals the military power of the United States, as is obvious from the unfolding Ukraine war where all the NATO could do is watch it from distance, and not even attempting to enforce a no-fly zone lest the conflict spirals into a mutually destructive nuclear war. Defence lawyers argued their clients returned fire after being ambushed by Iraqi insurgents. "I don't know what I did to Blackwater," Kinani told ABC News. [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". It remains unclear whether the team member mistook the civilians for insurgents. Then-Vice President Joe Biden held a press conference to tell the citizens of Iraq that they would not be abandoned. Russian Forces strike Ukrainian Armys Electronic Intelligence Center in Kiev Region. And none of the I.P. Those Warnings Were Ignored, How Russia Will Counterpunch U.S./EU Declaration of War, Khazarian Mafia at War: The Jewish Oligarch Who Planned the Terror Attack on Bryansk, Covert Operations In Vietnam: The Incomplete History of US-Norway Collaboration. If it is determined that one person was complicit in the wrongdoing, we would support accountability in that. [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". Rogers. (Iraqi police) or any of the local security forces fired back at them", the official continued. The man that just spoken to him was dead. Iraqi traffic police initially tried to wave down the Blackwater men that there was no threat, but they too had to run for cover. It was as if someone had targeted the area in his SUV where a persons head would have been. They would turn Blackwater into roadkill. The Nisour Square massacreoccurred on September 16, 2007, when employees of Blackwater Security Consulting (now Constellis), a private military companycontracted 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. [55], On April 1, 2009, the Associated Press reported that forensic tests on bullets were inconclusive. The traffic circle, Nisour Square, was only a block away from one of the main entrance gates to Baghdads Green Zone. 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. [12] On October 4, 2007, the U.S. House passed a bill that would make all private contractors working in Iraq and other combat zones subject to the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act[65] Mohammed met members of the U.S. Army on the streets and handed out candy and juice when he saw them. Four guards fired on unarmed crowd in Baghdad in 2007, killing 14 and sparking outrage over use of private security in war zones. Mahde Shamke was 25 years old and driving a taxi to support his parents and siblings. The hospital was too busy. Notorious mercenaries convicted of massacre in Iraq pardoned by Trump When Mohammed looked to his right, the driver of the car next to him shouted that the soldiers had just shot into another car in front of them. They could not do anything for him. On January 31, 2009, the U.S. State Department notified Blackwater that it would not be renewing its security contract with the company. WaPo says, 'Investigators for the military and the FBI later described . The Nisour Square massacre was the FBI's most comprehensive and expensive criminal investigation since 9/11. They beat citizens and scorn them. Blackwater Mercenaries Filmed on a Rampage in Iraq & Shooting Civilians from WarPosting After being leaked by a former employee of the notorious PMC, the footage dated April 2006 was featured in a piece called "The Warrior Class" by Charles Glass. Nicholas Slatten, 35, was a former security guard at the private US military firm Blackwater and was based in Baghdad. A rocket grenade was fired into the car next to him. These convictions happened under the Obama Administration. "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. [56], On April 1, 2011, the Associated Press reported on Erik Prince's seven-hour testimony about what allegedly transpired. Before Nord Stream Sabotage, VT RADIO: Exposing East Palestine Train Derailment Disaster with VTs Jack Heart, Dr. Fauci Admits COVID Shots Didnt Have A Chance Of Controlling The Pandemic, More Home Care Services Needed for Military Veterans, VA is Lying Facebook Group is Social Media Done Right, Pregnant Dog Found Starving to Death in Cage Needs Help to be Reunited With Marine Who Rescued Her, Healthy Eating Options More Accessible to Military Community through the Exchange, Israels Illegal Violent Occupation: When De-Escalate Means Ramp Up, Citizen Kane Rupert Murdoch Openly Admits Fox News is Complete Bullshit. "How are. The Iraqi government and Iraqi police investigator Faris Saadi Abdul stated that the killings were unprovoked. 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 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. Contractor Banned by Iraq Over Shootings", "F.B.I. [37] A senior aide to al-Maliki said that three of the Blackwater guards were Iraqis and could be subject to prosecution. 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.
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