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August 17th,
2008 - Justice Dept. Moves Toward Charges Against Contractors News article by the Washington Post |
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Justice Dept. Moves Toward
Charges Against Contractors in Iraq Shooting By Del Quentin Wilber & Karen DeYoung Washington Post August 17, 2008 Federal prosecutors have
sent target letters to six Blackwater Worldwide security guards involved in a
September shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead, indicating a high
likelihood the Justice Department will seek to indict at least some of the
men, according to three sources close to the case. The guards, all former U.S.
military personnel, were working as security contractors for the State
Department, assigned to protect U.S. diplomats and other non-military
officials in Iraq. The shooting occurred when their convoy arrived at a busy
square in central Baghdad and guards tried to stop traffic. An Iraqi government
investigation concluded that the security contractors fired without
provocation. Blackwater has said its personnel acted in self-defense. The sources said that any
charges against the guards would likely be brought under the Military Extraterritorial
Jurisdiction Act, which has previously been used to prosecute only the cases
referred to the Justice Department by the Defense Department for crimes
committed by military personnel and contractors overseas. Legal experts have
questioned whether contractors working for the State Department can be
prosecuted under its provisions. The sources cautioned that
prosecutors are still weighing evidence gathered in a 10-month investigation
that began shortly after the shootings. A federal grand jury has heard
testimony from about three dozen witnesses since November, including U.S. and
Blackwater officials and Iraqis, according to two of the sources. Target letters, often
considered a prelude to indictment, offer suspects the opportunity to contest
evidence brought before the grand jury and give their own version of events.
The letters were sent this summer, although the sources, who agreed to
discuss the case only on the condition of anonymity because of its
sensitivity, said a final decision on whether to indict may not be made until
October, about a year after the incident. The U.S. attorney's office
in Washington and the Justice Department's National Security Division are
leading the investigation. Channing Phillips, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's
office, declined to comment, as did Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd. A
spokeswoman for the FBI's Washington field office, which investigated the
shooting on the ground in Iraq in the weeks after the incident, also declined
to comment. Anne E. Tyrell, a
spokeswoman for North Carolina-based Blackwater, said that the company
believes the guards fired their weapons "in response to a hostile
threat" and is monitoring the investigation closely. "If it is determined
that an individual acted improperly, Blackwater would support holding that
person accountable," Tyrell said in a statement. "But at this
stage, without being able to review evidence collected in an ongoing
investigation, we will not prejudge the actions of any individual. The company
is cooperating fully with ongoing investigations and believes that
accountability is important." Earlier reports on the
investigation indicated that the FBI had focused on three Blackwater guards
among a larger but unknown number present at the time of the Sept. 16
incident in Baghdad's Nisoor Square. None has been publicly identified, and
authorities did not say which six received the target letters. The shooting, and the
perceived failure to hold anyone accountable for it, has fueled congressional
dissatisfaction with the government's use of private security contractors in
a combat zone. Contractors working for the Defense Department are now
explicitly liable for crimes under laws covering the military, but several
efforts in Congress to extend that jurisdiction to State Department
contractors have failed. The incident also angered
Iraqi political leaders. U.S. contractors have been exempt from Iraqi law
under a decree imposed by the U.S. occupation administration in 2003. Seeking to respond to
widespread fury among Iraqis over the Nisoor Square incident, the government
of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki insisted in negotiations over a new
bilateral security agreement with the United States that all contractors come
under Iraqi legal jurisdiction. Facing pressure to finalize an agreement by
the end of the year, the Bush administration agreed to meet the Iraqi demand,
according to officials close to the discussions. But the administration
continues to insist on immunity from Iraqi law for military and official Defense
Department personnel, the officials said. Blackwater is one of three
U.S. security firms under contract with the State Department to provide
personal security in Iraq. The State Department in May extended Blackwater's
contract for another year, saying that while the case was still under
investigation it had no enforceable cause to cancel it. Lawyers for the Blackwater
guards have argued in ongoing discussions with prosecutors that the Military
Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, known as MEJA, can be applied only to
contractors working for the Defense Department, two sources said. That
position appeared to be buttressed by the Congressional Budget Office, which
said in a report on contractors in Iraq released last week that MEJA
"does not apply to civilians working ... for federal departments or
agencies other than DOD [the Department of Defense]." Legislative proposals to
extend MEJA's provisions beyond the Defense Department - which have been
repeatedly opposed by the White House - have made the same point. But the question has never
been tested in court. Some outside legal experts said that prosecutors would
be able to make a compelling argument that MEJA covers Blackwater guards
involved in the shooting under a 2005 amendment that expanded MEJA's provisions
to include contractors "supporting the mission of the Department of
Defense." "You are dealing with a
military environment," said Scott Silliman, a law professor at Duke
University who specializes in national security matters. "If the
contractors were not there, those State Department folks would be guarded by
the military. Prosecutors could argue to the judge that those facts fit
within the definition of furthering the [Defense Department] mission in
Iraq." Among other possible
complications in potential legal action against the Blackwater contractors
are interviews some of the guards gave to officials from the State
Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security immediately after the incident.
The interviews were conducted under legal protections against self-incrimination
granted to government employees, and the guards were informed that they could
not be used by FBI investigators or in a potential prosecution. Several former prosecutors
and defense attorneys said that the government would have a difficult time
proving the case even if it overcame the jurisdictional question. They noted
the hurdles facing prosecutors in domestic police shooting cases, adding that
such cases are exceedingly hard to win. Trying to convince jurors
that guards committed a crime by opening fire in a war zone "makes it an
exponentially tougher case to prove" than a bad police shooting, said
George Parry, a former federal and state prosecutor in Pennsylvania who
handled law enforcement shootings as a prosecutor and defense attorney. Parry
does not represent anyone in the Blackwater matter. The former prosecutors and
defense attorneys said defense lawyers would work hard to put jurors inside
the war zone and portray the guards as having to make split-second decisions
in an environment where insurgents dress like civilians and attacks could
occur anywhere, at any moment. Witnesses in such situations also often
contradict each other, and evidence gathered in Baghdad may not meet the same
forensic standards that jurors are used to seeing in the United States, the
lawyers said. The Nisoor Square incident
took place on a Tuesday afternoon. A Blackwater team arrived in several
vehicles at the intersection - accounts differ as to why they were there -
and tried to stop traffic. Shooting erupted, leaving numerous Iraqis dead and
wounded. Blackwater officials have said the guards came under fire;
investigations by the U.S. military and the Iraqi government - and initial
findings by the FBI - concluded that no one fired except the contractors. External link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/16/AR2008081601967.html Iraq reserves
right to hold Blackwater trial By Agence France Presse August 17, 2008 Baghdad - Iraq on Sunday
said it reserves the right to put on trial six guards working for private
security firm Blackwater USA for their alleged role in the killing of 17
Iraqi civilians in Baghdad last year. "There is information
that half a dozen Blackwater guards who have been accused of shooting and
killing 17 Iraqis are to be tried in Washington," government spokesman
Ali al-Dabbagh told reporters. "The Iraqi government
stresses its rights and that Blackwater guards have committed crimes against
Iraqi victims. The government reserves the right to prosecute them," he
said. Last September 16,
Blackwater guards shot dead 17 Iraqi civilians while escorting an American
diplomatic convoy through Baghdad. The firm says its guards were acting in
self-defence. Dabbagh's commment came
after the Washington Post reported on Saturday that six Blackwater guards had
received "target letters" from the US Justice Department in a probe
of the shootings. Such letters are often
considered a prelude to indictment, the report said, adding that the guards
were former US military personnel. The report said any charges
against the men would likely be brought under the Military Extraterritorial
Jurisdiction Act, which has previously been used to prosecute only the cases
referred to the Justice Department by the Pentagon for crimes committed by
military personnel and contractors overseas. Despite strong opposition,
the US Department of State earlier this year renewed a contract with
Blackwater to protect American officials in Iraq. Foreign security companies
are currently not subject to Iraq law, but they are not governed by US
military tribunals either, effectively allowing them to operate with
impunity. Among the sticking points in
complex negotiations aimed at striking a new US-Iraqi security deal has been
the issue of whether and what immunity US troops should continue to have. Dabbagh reiterated Iraq's
position that security companies' guards would not be exempt from
prosecution. "The Iraqi government
will not allow any security company to have immunity in Iraq," he said. Baghdad and Washington are
still negotiating an agreement that would govern US troop levels and allow
them to operate in the country after a UN mandate expires at the end of the
year. US President George W. Bush
and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki agreed in principle last November to
sign a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) by the end of July, but controversy
has delayed the arrangement. Iraqis fiercely oppose a
large American troop presence on their soil, but at the same time want a
guarantee that Washington will defend the country from foreign invasion. The proposed pact has drawn
sharp criticism from Iraq's various political factions, especially from
anti-American cleric Moqtada Sadr, a Shiite who demands a deadline for US
troops. Sadr, whose 60,000-strong
Mahdi Army has battled US forces numerous times, said he was willing to
demilitarise the militia if a security pact between Baghdad and Washington
provides for an American withdrawal. The White House has so far
refused to commit to a fixed date for withdrawing US combat troops, but has
suggested a series of target dates for giving Iraqis control over security in
different parts of the war-torn country. About 142,500 American troops
remain in Iraq, and the issue is increasingly politically sensitive in
Washington as the November US presidential election draws near. Copyright © 2008 AFP. All
rights reserved. External link:
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jRH-W5RmbphIhCc5VHfdeVglMxyA |