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Rogers. [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 by President Donald Trump in December 2020. His tough faade cracked as he described the moment he learned about the shootings. He hid behind the police traffic booth, but shots came directly at him, hitting the adjacent traffic light and booth's door, and he fled back across Yarmouk road to safety behind a hill. [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. [54] He served one tour in Iraq before being hired as a Personal Security Specialist in Iraq. "The civilians that were fired upon, they didn't have any weapons to fire back at them. A sixth guard, Jeremy Ridgeway, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with investigators, World reports. And Blackwater is not the only problem. According to the civil lawsuit filed against Blackwater by Saadoon's family, Moonen was drunk when he shot and killed Saadoon "for no reason." But the State Department representative kept insisting on a number. Erik Prince - The Rise and Fall of Blackwater | SRS #029 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. courts. Get updates on human rights issues from around the globe. [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. Blackwater has made more than $1.5 billion in "security" contracts in Iraq alone since 2003. courts. [82][20] On June 5, 2012, the US Supreme Court declined to review the Appeal Court ruling, allowing the trial to proceed. 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. "I tried to help the young man, but his mother was holding him so tight," said Khalaf. Now, left to deal with the aftermath are 16 grieving families, and those, like Hooby, still trying to recover from their wounds. Haythem eventually told him that "if he could give me my loved ones, I would gladly give him $200 million.". 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. 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. Blackwater Guards Found Guilty in 2007 Iraq Killings Two helicopters circled overhead, each with a man strapped in and a machine gun sticking out. Trump pardons ex-campaign aide and disgraced Republican lawmakers, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. "We were always together. Fifteen minutes later, the four-car convoy continued around the square and drove away. According to Courthouse News Service, they also stated that Slough, Heard, and Liberty should also be re-sentenced "because their 30-year prison terms were too long" and constituted "cruel and unusual punishment.". That day destroyed me completely, Kinani said. He waited and waited, and eventually went home without them. The Blackwater team also claimed that some of the "aggressors" were dressed like Iraqi Police as well as civilians. Black Water is a 2007 Australian horror film written and directed by Andrew Traucki and David Nerlich. An estimated 20,000 to 35,000 private security contractors operate in Iraq, without adequate oversight, without adequate training and without adequate legal sanctions to hold abusers accountable. While they weren't the only private contractor to provide military security, the name Blackwater would soon be so notorious that the company would change their name. Blackwater massacre survivors In Iraq slam Trump's decision to - CNN I interviewed Khalaf on Nov. 30, in a small conference room inside a hotel in Istanbul, Turkey. Supporters of the former contractors at Blackwater Worldwide had lobbied for the pardons, arguing that the men had been excessively punished. Stuck in heavy traffic on the opposite side of the square from Yarmouk road, he heard the shooting start. And after the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003, Blackwater won a $25 million contract to provide security for L. Paul Bremer, an American diplomat who led the transitional government following the invasion. The 14 victims killed by the Blackwater guards on trial were listed as Ahmed Haithem Ahmed Al Rubiay, Mahassin Mohssen Kadhum Al-Khazali, Osama Fadhil Abbas, Ali Mohammed Hafedh Abdul Razzaq, Mohamed Abbas Mahmoud, Qasim Mohamed Abbas Mahmoud, Saadi Ali Abbas Alkarkh, Mushtaq Karim Abd Al-Razzaq, Ghaniyah Hassan Ali, Ibrahim Abid Ayash, Hamoud Saeed Abttan, Uday Ismail Ibrahiem, Mahdi Sahib Nasir and Ali Khalil Abdul Hussein. Graphs are temporarily unavailable due to technical issues. "I kept calling, but thought there must be some sort of cellphone interruption.". The Blackwater Shooting (2007) | The New York Times - YouTube Fallujah, The Hidden Massacre - Wikipedia [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. Director Mark Manning Writers Natalie Kalustian Mark Manning Stars Rana al Aiouby Tariq Ali Reza Aslan Of the 17 that lost their lives, two were children under the age of 12, with the youngest aged 9 years old. 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. We were in a combat zone where things can happen quite unexpectedly, especially when issues involve potentially negative impacts on a lucrative security contract." Haythem, the composed, articulate and powerfully calm father and husband of Ahmed and Mohasin, who died in the white car, expected them to pick him up at the health center where he worked that afternoon. A burnt car at the site where Blackwater guards opened fire on a crowd in Baghdad, Iraq, in 2007. An error occurred while subscribing your email address. Donald Trump has pardoned the four contractors jailed over the killing of 14 civilians. [19] The three justifiable killings were those of the two passengers in the white Kia sedan and an unidentified Iraqi nearby. Recent episodes in U.S. 1:08 'Look at That Thing': Footage Shows. This decision was appealed by the Department of Justice and in 2011, the ruling was reversed. The case was consolidated with four other cases against Blackwater and on January 1, 2010, the plaintiffs agreed to a settlement and to withdraw their complaint. [59] (The Protocol makes no distinction between defensive and offensive actions, but the U.S. does make such a distinction, in that it does not regard defensive actions by security guards to be combat. Around midday on September 16, 2007, Ahmed Haithem Ahmed and his mother Mohassin were driving to the hospital to pick up Ahmed's father, Haythem, who worked as a pathologist. [54] He received an honorable discharge in 2002 and then enlisted in the Texas National Guard. 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. Blackwater has been one of the biggest recipients. This contract ended up being extended into 2006 and the total cost of that single contract came out to over $300 million. [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. No! An order issued by the Coalition Provisional Authority in its departing days and still in force gives foreign private contractors immunity under Iraqi law. US pardons Blackwater guards: An 'affront to justice' - UN experts [34], In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, Blackwater's rights to conduct work in Iraq were temporarily suspended. Slough, Liberty and Heard were convicted on multiple charges of voluntary and attempted manslaughter in 2014, while Slatten, who was the first to start shooting, was convicted of first-degree murder. [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. Then the mother was shot dead before his eyes. [9], Blackwater guards claimed that the convoy was ambushed and that they fired at the attackers in defense of the convoy. [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. The Blackwater guards also shot at cars, taxis, and buses. When he got out of his car to find out what was happening, he saw the convoy and the white car burning, and started yelling at the other cars to turn around. 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 officials disputing Blackwater's claim that its guards had been fired upon or under any sort of attack. Another young man, 27-year-old Abu Hassam, suddenly became the head of his family just a week earlier, when on Sept. 9 his older brother was shot in front of the family's carpet shop -- in an incident also attributed to Blackwater. As the convoy stopped, Khalaf watched as a large man with a mustache standing atop the third car fired several shots in the air. Blackwater was founded by Erik Prince, whose sister, Betsy DeVos, was appointed Trumps education secretary. When Slatten was tried for a third time, the jury deliberated for five days before finding him guilty of first-degree murder in December 2018. Other times, Blackwater guards left a trail of civilian casualties. The key people in this have not spoken with investigators. "It was obviously excessive", a U.S. military official speaking on condition of anonymity told the Washington Post. The Road to Fallujah (2008) - IMDb Prosecutors argued the men did not face hostile gunfire when they began shooting, and continued to shoot despite the lack of threats. Defence lawyers argued their clients returned fire after being ambushed by Iraqi insurgents. Slatten faced a potential sentence of life in prison. [97], On December 22, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump granted full presidential pardons to Slatten, Slough, Liberty, and Heard. Share this via Reddit However, according to "Blackwater" by Jeremy Scahill, the report was written by Darren Hanner, a Blackwater contractor. And he contended that the helicopters never fired on those below. 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. [89][90][91] The panel also recommended that Slatten undergo a re-trial on the grounds that it was unjustifiable to try him with his co-defendants, and that he should have been tried separately. The Blackwater Shooting (2007) | The New York Times The New York Times 4.26M subscribers 1.1M views 8 years ago In this 2007 video, witnesses shed light on the killing of 17 Iraqis by American. One of the men I met in Istanbul wrote me after I returned home. But the accounts of Khalaf and others contradict each of Prince's assertions. On YouTube.The Blackwater Shooting (2007) | The New York Times http://www.youtube.com/user/TheNewYorkTimes Even General David Petraeus and former ambassador Ryan Crocker, top officials in charge of Iraq policy at the time of the massacre, issued a joint statement called the pardons "hugely damaging, an action that tells the world that Americans abroad can commit the most heinous crimes with impunity.". Blackwater was founded by ex-Navy SEAL Erik Prince in 1997 as a shooting range and military training ground in Moyock, North Carolina. "[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. In Nisour Square, the Blackwater team later claimed that they were "engaged with small arms fire" by an "estimated 8-10 persons." The man was Ahmed, a 20-year-old medical student at the top of his class, and the woman his mother, Mohasin, a successful dermatologist and mother of three. Assadi, 31, a stoic, unsmiling man, became the head of the family after his older brother Usama was killed in the shootings. At least four other Iraqis have been reported killed in that incident on Sept. 9. 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/1u1cNzySubscribe to the Times Video newsletter for free and get a handpicked selection of the best videos from The New York Times every week: http://bit.ly/timesvideonewsletterSubscribe on YouTube: http://bit.ly/U8Ys7nWatch more videos at: http://nytimes.com/video---------------------------------------------------------------Want more from The New York Times?Twitter: https://twitter.com/nytvideoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/nytimes Google+: https://plus.google.com/+nytimes/Whether it's reporting on conflicts abroad and political divisions at home, or covering the latest style trends and scientific developments, New York Times video journalists provide a revealing and unforgettable view of the world. Ultimately, Blackwater repeatedly insisted that their guards "were fired upon and responded appropriately." Black Water (2018) - Full Cast & Crew - IMDb The team is suing Blackwater on behalf of the victims of the Sept. 16 shooting. As a result, on October 17, 2013, the Department of Justice once more filed charges against the Blackwater security guards, according to the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre. We responded to a threat accordingly." Blackwater's contracts for protecting American diplomats also weren't limited to Iraq. The massacre took place in 2007, when the four were working as guards for Blackwater, a private military contractor, on an assignment in Baghdad. Prince's prepared testimony also asserted that one of the vehicles had been disabled by the "enemy fire" and had to be towed. Action Drama Thriller A deep-cover operative awakens to find himself imprisoned in a CIA black site on a submarine. US prosecutors are now reportedly trying to build a case against those involved in the Sept. 16 shootings. All rights reserved. I don't know how to manage my life or care for my other two children without her. 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. "I tried to be patient," he said. But this was likely due to the fact that the U.S.Iraq Status of Forces Agreement, which took effect in 2009, ended contractor immunity. In total, the defendants faced 14 counts of voluntary manslaughter and 20 counts of attempted manslaughter. He watched as all four cars drove away as the 15-minute shooting spree ended, and huddled in fear as the helicopters began firing. The film, an international co-production of Australia and the United Kingdom, is set in the mangrove swamps of northern Australia, and stars Diana Glenn, Maeve Dermody and Andy Rodoreda. Blackwater (2007) - IMDb The Nisour Square massacreoccurred on September 16, 2007, when employees of BlackwaterSecurity 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. 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. [79] Three weeks later, Vice President Joe Biden, who was overseeing U.S. policy in Iraq, promised Iraqi leaders the U.S. would appeal the dismissal of these charges. Says Guards Killed 14 Iraqis Without Cause", "Blackwater guards lose bid to appeal charges in Iraqi civilian shooting case", "U.S. troops in Iraq will need immunity: U.S. chief", "Jurors' Note Hints at Conviction in Blackwater Case", "Former Blackwater Guards Convicted in Iraq Shooting", "Shock And Dismay After Trump Pardons Blackwater Guards Who Killed 14 Iraqi Civilians", "Trump Pardons Two Russia Inquiry Figures and Blackwater Guards", "Trump pardon of Blackwater Iraq contractors violates international law - UN", "Iraqi Inquiry Says Shooting Was Unprovoked", "Blackwater guards fired unprovoked: Iraq police evidence", "Pentagon Dispatches Investigators to Iraq to Probe Private Security Contractors", "Joint Iraqi-U.S. review begins in wake of Blackwater firefight", "Blackwater faulted by U.S. military: report", "Iraq determined to rein in private security guards", "The Iraqi Account of the Killings [infographic]", "Former Blackwater Employee Sentenced to Life Imprisonment for Murder in 2007 Shooting at Nisur Square in Iraq", "US Lawyers for Blackwater Guards: 2007 Baghdad Shooting was Self-Defense", "From Errand to Fatal Shot to Hail of Fire to 17 Deaths", "Four Former Blackwater Employees Found Guilty of Charges in Fatal Nisur Square Shooting in Iraq", "Iraqi ministers back Blackwater shutdown - CNN.com", "Iraqi Report Says Blackwater Guards Fired First", "State Dept.
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