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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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December 4th,
2008 - US Mulls Unusual Tactic as Blackwater Charges Loom |
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US Mulls Unusual
Tactic as Blackwater Charges Loom By Matt Apuzzo & Lara Jakes Jordan Associated Press December 4, 2008 Washington - Blackwater
Worldwide guards involved in the deadly 2007 Baghdad shooting of Iraqi
civilians could face mandatory 30-year prison sentences under an aggressive
anti-drug law being considered as the Justice Department readies indictments,
people close to the case said. Charges could be announced
as early as Monday for the shooting, which left 17 civilians dead and
strained U.S. relations with the fledgling Iraqi government. Prosecutors have
been reviewing a draft indictment and considering manslaughter and assault
charges for weeks. A team of prosecutors returned to the grand jury room
Thursday and called no witnesses. Though drugs were not
involved in the Blackwater shooting, the Justice Department is pondering the
use of a law, passed at the height of the nation's crack epidemic, to
prosecute the guards. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 law calls for 30-year
prison terms for using machine guns to commit violent crimes of any kind,
whether drug-related or not. The people who discussed the
case did so on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to
disclose matters that are not yet public. Justice Department spokesman
Dean Boyd declined to comment on the report. Blackwater, the largest
security contractor in Iraq, was thrust into the national spotlight after the
Sept. 16, 2007, shooting. Its guards, all decorated military veterans hired
to protect U.S. diplomats overseas, were responding to a car bombing when a
shooting erupted in a crowded intersection. The guards carried
government-issued machine guns and drove heavily armored trucks equipped with
turret guns. Blackwater insists its
convoy was ambushed by insurgents. Witnesses said the guards were unprovoked.
When the shooting subsided, Nisoor Square was littered with dead bodies and
blown-out cars. Weeks later, amid a growing furor over the shooting, the
Justice Department dispatched FBI agents to Iraq to investigate. The company is not a target
in the case and Blackwater has cooperated with investigators. "The company has
consistently said that we do not believe the individuals acted
unlawfully," company spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said Thursday. "If it
is determined that an individual acted improperly, Blackwater would support
holding that person accountable." Prosecutors questioned
dozens of witnesses in the case, including the father of a young boy killed
in the shooting. The investigation has focused on between three and six
guards who could face charges. The 30-year minimum sentence
was passed as part of a broad law passed in the final days of the Reagan
administration. It created the position of drug czar and boosted penalties
for violence and drug crimes. "Our ultimate
destination: a drug-free America," President Reagan said in signing the
law. "And now in the eleventh hour of this presidency, we give a new
sword and shield to those whose daily business it is to eliminate from
America's streets and towns the scourge of illicit drugs." Regardless of the charges
they bring, prosecutors will have a tough fight. The law is unclear on
whether contractors can be charged in the U.S., or anywhere, for crimes
committed overseas. An indictment would send the message that the Justice
Department believes contractors do not operate with legal impunity in war
zones. To prosecute, authorities
must argue that the guards can be charged under a law meant to cover soldiers
and military contractors. Since Blackwater works for the State Department,
not the military, it's unclear whether that law applies to its guards. It would be the first such
case of its kind. The Justice Department recently lost a similar case against
former Marine Jose Luis Nazario Jr., who was charged in Riverside, Calif.,
with killing four unarmed Iraqi detainees. Further complicating the
case, the State Department promised several Blackwater guards limited
immunity in exchange for their sworn statements shortly after the shooting.
Prosecutors will need to show that they did not rely on those statements in
building their case. Copyright © 2008 The
Associated Press. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jtLfZVVNZF72Pzftxt21yza9lVwAD94S6J280 |