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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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June 3rd,
2009 - Blackwater Denies Destroying Evidence In Case Of Three Iraqis |
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Blackwater Denies Destroying
Evidence In Case Of Three Iraqis Killed By Guards By Cara Parks Huffington Post June 3rd, 2009 The families of three men
killed in Iraq sued Blackwater yesterday, alleging that company employees
wrongfully killed the men and then destroyed documents to hide the evidence.
The private military company, now known as Xe, faces civil action in U.S. District
Court for the Eastern District in Virginia. The case was originally filed in
a California federal court in April. The suit, which seeks
unspecified damages, alleges that on Feb. 7, 2007, heavily armed
Xe-Blackwater employees shot the three men, who worked as security guards for
the Iraqi Media Network. Sabah Salman Hassoon, Azhar Abdullah Ali, and
Nibrass Mohammed Dawood were killed in front of approximately 20 other
Xe-Blackwater employees and although company supervisors were alerted, the
shootings were not reported, according to the complaint. Not only did the company
fail to report the shootings, claim the plaintiffs, but also actively covered
up the incident by "refusing to identify the shooters to Iraqi
authorities and destroying documents and other evidence relating to this and
other Xe-Blackwater shootings." This is the latest in a
string of lawsuits filed against the company since the start of the Iraq War,
including suits by both Iraqi and U.S. families accusing the company of fraud
and negligence, among other charges. The plaintiffs in the recent case claim
that Xe-Blackwater continues to operate a company in Iraq called Falcon
though company officials have denied any connection to Falcon in the past. Xe spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell
told Huffington Post that she was unfamiliar with the case. According to the lawsuit,
Hassoon, Ali and Dawood were manning their posts at the Iraqi Media Network
across from the Iraqi Justice Ministry. After escorting a U.S. diplomat to a
meeting at the ministry, Xe-Blackwater "shooters" took up positions
on the roof and fired at Dawood for "no reason," according to the
lawsuit. When Ali and Hassoon ran to the guard's assistance, they also came
under fire. The document goes on to say that the Iraqi Army commander at the
site, Captain Ahmed Thamir Abood, questioned the Xe-Blackwater employees at
the time of the shootings, but the employees "joked amongst themselves,
giving contradictory statements regarding to whom the captain should
speak." The lawsuit alleges that
"Xe-Blackwater management refused to fire or discipline mercenaries who
murdered innocent Iraqis," and accuses the company of war crimes. Updated: Xe spokeswoman Anne
Tyrrell emailed The Huffington Post to respond: "Xe has strong internal
and external document preservation controls and comprehensive policies to
ensure we fulfill them. When the company was first accused of document
destruction by these attorneys, outside counsel independently conducted a
thorough investigation and found no support for any of those allegations.
When pressed for provide specific information to support their allegations,
plaintiffs' counsel was unable to do so." External link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/03/blackwater-sued-for-war-c_n_211139.html |