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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
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January 6th,
2009 - Former Blackwater Guards Plead not Guilty 1st news article from
the Associated Press News article from the
Washington Post |
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Former
Blackwater Guards Plead not Guilty By Jesse J. Holland Associated Press January 6, 2009 Washington - Five former
Blackwater Worldwide security guards pleaded not guilty Tuesday to federal
manslaughter and gun charges resulting from a 2007 shooting in a crowded
Baghdad square that killed 17 Iraqi civilians and injured dozens of others. The five - all decorated
military veterans - stood silently in a line behind their lawyers as their
not guilty plea on all charges was entered in front of U.S. District Judge
Ricardo M. Urbina in federal court. They are charged with 14
counts of manslaughter, 20 counts of attempted manslaughter and one count of
using a machine gun to commit a crime of violence. The machine gun charge,
typically used in drug cases, carries a 30-year minimum prison sentence. Saying the case was complex,
Urbina set a February 1, 2010 hearing date for former Marines Donald Ball of
West Valley City, Utah; Dustin Heard of Knoxville, Tenn.; Evan Liberty of
Rochester, N.H.; and Army veterans Nick Slatten of Sparta, Tenn., and Paul
Slough of Keller, Texas. The Iraqi government has labeled
the guards "criminals" and is closely watching the Blackwater case.
The shooting strained diplomacy between Washington and Baghdad and fueled the
anti-American insurgency in Iraq, where many Iraqis saw the bloodshed in
Nisoor Square as a demonstration of American brutality and arrogance. The shooting took place
around noon on Sept. 16, 2007, in a crowded square where prosecutors said
civilians were running errands, getting lunch and otherwise going about their
lives. Prosecutors said the men
unleashed a gruesome attack on unarmed Iraqis, with the slain including young
children, women, people fleeing in cars and a man whose arms were raised in
surrender as he was shot in the chest. Twenty others were wounded
in the crowded square, including one injured by a grenade launched into a
nearby girls' school. Another 18 Iraqis were assaulted but not wounded,
prosecutors said. Iraqi witnesses said the
contractors opened fire unprovoked and left the square littered with
blown-out cars. "This is a straightforward
shooting of a lot of people," Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth C. Kohl
said. But the Blackwater guards
contend they were ambushed by insurgents. One of the trucks in the convoy was
disabled in the ensuing firefight, the guards say. Blackwater radio logs made
available to The Associated Press by a defense attorney in the case last
month raised questions about prosecutors' claims that the guards' shooting
was unprovoked. The log transcripts describe a hectic eight minutes in which
the guards repeatedly reported incoming gunfire from insurgents and Iraqi
police. North Carolina-based
Blackwater is the largest contractor providing security in Iraq. Most of its
work for the State Department is in protecting U.S. diplomats in Iraq. The
company has not been charged in connection with the shooting. The five guards, all dressed
in dark suits and ties, said nothing while in the courtroom. A sixth, however, is
cooperating with the government. Jeremy Ridgeway of California pleaded guilty
to one count each of manslaughter, attempted manslaughter, and aiding and
abetting. In his plea agreement with prosecutors, Ridgeway admitted there was
no threat from a white Kia sedan whose driver, a medical student, was killed
and his mother, in the front passenger seat, was injured. Urbina ordered prosecutors
to give defense lawyers copies of Ridgeway's sealed plea agreement in three
months. In a separate case, another
former Blackwater security contractor will soon be charged in the killing of
an Iraqi guard in 2006, his lawyer said. Andrew Moonen of Seattle, a
former Army Ranger, fatally shot a 32-year-old guard for Iraqi Vice President
Adil Abd-al-Mahdi while wandering around drunk after a Christmas Eve party in
2006, according to a congressional report. Moonen, now 28, said he had
been in a gunfight with Iraqis. Blackwater arranged to have the State
Department fly him back to the United States, fired him and fined him, and
paid the slain guard's family $15,000. Copyright © 2009 The
Associated Press. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i_xa83_RBzTPUrXquA0EjcqvQb1AD95HT3UO2 Judge sets
trial in 2010 for Blackwater guards By James Vicini Reuters January 6, 2009 Washington - A federal judge
on Tuesday set a trial for early next year for five Blackwater security
guards accused of killing 14 unarmed civilians in a 2007 shooting in Baghdad
that strained U.S.-Iraqi relations. The judge scheduled jury
selection to begin on January 29 of next year after the five defendants
formally entered a not guilty plea to the charges over the shooting that also
injured 20 Iraqis. The five men are charged
with 14 counts of manslaughter, 20 counts of attempt to commit manslaughter
and one weapons violation count over the shooting that outraged Iraqis. A sixth Blackwater guard
pleaded guilty late last year to charges of voluntary manslaughter and
attempt to commit manslaughter, and has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors
and testify at trial. The shooting occurred as the
private security firm's guards escorted a heavily armed four-truck convoy of
U.S. diplomats through Baghdad on September 16, 2007. The guards, U.S.
military veterans, were responding to a car bombing when shooting erupted in
a crowded intersection. North Carolina-based
Blackwater, the largest security contractor in Iraq, has said that it
understands the guards acted within the rules set forth for them by the U.S.
government and that no criminal violations occurred. U.S. Justice Department
lawyer Kenneth Kohl said at the hearing that witnesses would be coming from
Iraq and estimated it would take about four weeks for the prosecution to put
on its case at trial. "This is a
straightforward shooting of a lot of people," Kohl said, adding that he
does not expect the case to be delayed by complex classified intelligence
issues. While Kohl wanted the trial
to begin in the fall, defense lawyers said they needed more time to file
various motions and challenges, to gather evidence and to go Iraq for
interviews. U.S. District Judge Ricardo
Urbina agreed to begin the trial early next year but made clear he would not
allow needless delays that result in the defense unfairly benefiting from
faded memories and witnesses becoming unavailable. "My interest is getting
this case tried as soon as reasonably possible," Urbina said. U.S. Justice Department
officials have said there was no evidence that any of the other 13 members of
the convoy or that Blackwater itself committed any wrongdoing in the
shooting. The defendants are former
Marines Donald Ball of West Valley City, Utah; Dustin Heard of Knoxville,
Tennessee; Evan Liberty of Rochester, New Hampshire; and Army veterans Nick
Slatten of Sparta, Tennessee, and Paul Slough of Keller, Texas. Editing by Cynthia Osterman. © Thomson Reuters 2008. All
rights reserved. External link: http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE5056VU20090106 Former
Blackwater Guards Plead Not Guilty to Manslaughter By Del Quentin Wilber Washington Post January 6, 2009 Five former Blackwater
Worldwide security guards pleaded not guilty this afternoon in federal court
here to charges they unleashed an unprovoked salvo of bullets and grenades in
a busy Baghdad square in 2007, killing at least 14 Iraqi civilians and
injuring 20 others. A federal judge in the
District set a trial date for January of next year in the high-profile
shooting that strained relations between Washington and the Iraqi government
and raised questions about the oversight and use of security contractors in
war zones. The guards did not speak during the brief arraignment on 14 counts
of voluntary manslaughter, 20 counts of attempting to commit manslaughter and
one count of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. The guards
declined to speak to reporters after the hearing. They face a mandatory
minimum sentence of 30 years in prison under the firearms charge. In coming months, defense
lawyers are expected to file numerous motions challenging the evidence and
whether the government can bring charges in the case. A hearing on some of
those legal issues has been scheduled for Feb. 17. "We are anxious to have
a trial," said David Schertler, a lawyer who represents one of the
guards, after the hearing. "They are not guilty and we look forward to
proving that in court ... There are lots of legal and factual issues." Justice Department spokesman
Dean Boyd declined to comment. The guards, indicted last
month by a federal grand jury in the District, are: Paul Slough, 29, of
Keller, Texas; Nicholas Slatten, 24, of Sparta, Tenn.; Evan S. Liberty, 26,
of Rochester, N.H.; Dustin L. Heard, 27, of Maryville, Tenn.; and Donald
Ball, 26, of West Valley, Utah. They were all released on personal
recognizance after the hearing. A sixth guard, Jeremy P.
Ridgeway, 34, of Fallbrook, Calif., pleaded guilty last month to voluntary
manslaughter and attempting to commit manslaughter and is cooperating with
the government, according to sources familiar with the investigation. His
plea agreement and the transcripts of his plea hearing are sealed. U.S.
District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina, who is presiding over the case, said he
would unseal those documents in three months. At the time of the shooting
on Sept. 16, 2007, the six guards worked for Blackwater Worldwide, a North
Carolina-based security firm that has a contract to protect State Department
personnel in Iraq. They were part of a 19-member Blackwater security convoy,
code-named "Raven 23," that was responding to a car-bombing near
another Blackwater convoy when they entered Baghdad's bustling Nisoor Square,
prosecutors said. The guards set up a blockade
in the square and opened fire on a small white car, killing a doctor and her
son, a medical student, prosecutors said. Soon, the six guards were shooting
in all directions, according to the indictment and other court documents
filed in the case. One man was shot in the chest while he raised his arms in
the air, prosecutors said, and another was wounded when a contractor's
grenade detonated in a nearby girls' school. Others were shot in civilian
cars that were driving away from the action, prosecutors said. The U.S. and Iraqi
governments have said that 17 people died in the shooting. Prosecutors said
they could prove that 14 were killed in the fusillade of bullets and
explosions. Prosecutors said none of the victims were armed and there was no
evidence the convoy was fired upon. External link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010602045.html Feds plan to charge Seattle
man for Iraq death By Gene Johnson Associated Press January 6, 2009 Seattle - Federal
prosecutors intend to charge a former security contractor for Blackwater USA
in the killing of an Iraqi guard in 2006, his lawyer said Tuesday. Attorney Stewart Riley said
he received a letter from prosecutors outlining their intent to charge his
client, Seattle resident Andrew Moonen. Riley declined to discuss the letter
any further or say if it revealed what charge the U.S. attorney's office is
contemplating, but said he has neither received nor made any plea offer for
Moonen. A spokeswoman for the U.S.
attorney's office in Seattle, Emily Langlie, declined to comment Tuesday. Riley said he does not
expect any formal developments before March. Moonen, a former Army
Ranger, was wandering drunk around Baghdad's Green Zone after a Christmas Eve
party in 2006 when he encountered and fatally shot Raheem Khalif, a
32-year-old guard for Iraqi Vice President Adil Abd-al-Mahdi, according to a
congressional report. Moonen, now 28, reported the
shooting at a nearby post for another security contractor, Triple Canopy,
saying he had been in a gunfight with Iraqis. Blackwater arranged to have
the State Department fly him back to the United States, fired him and fined
him, and paid the slain guard's family $15,000. That outraged many Iraqis,
who questioned how an American could kill someone in those circumstances and
return to the U.S. a free man. By U.S. order, the
contractors at that time were immune from Iraqi law. But the U.S. Military
Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 2000 provides that any member of the
military, Department of Defense worker or contractor, or anyone
"supporting the mission of the Department of Defense overseas," can
be prosecuted in the U.S. for crimes committed abroad. Blackwater had a State
Department contract to provide security. Five other Blackwater
contractors were indicted last month in Washington, D.C., on manslaughter and
other charges stemming from the killing of at least 14 Iraqi civilians in
2007. Copyright © 2009 The
Associated Press. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iYkCf9c6IuXt8jmTtiBkSodQCGwwD95HQKU01 |