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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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August 16th,
2010 - Afghan Shooting Case Goes to US Court News article from Agence France
Presse |
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Afghan Shooting Case Goes to
US Court From Agence France Presse August 16, 2010 Washington - Two
ex-employees of a security firm owned by the company formerly known as
Blackwater were expected to enter pleas Tuesday in response to charges of
killing two Afghans in Kabul in May 2009. The two - Justin Cannon and
Christopher Drotleff - were to be arraigned in Norfolk, Virginia before US
District Judge Robert Doumar in a case that spotlights recurring problems
with private security firms in war zones. The Afghan government
announced Monday that it was giving security firms operating there four
months to dissolve, a measure that would create huge problems for military
and other international entities that depend on the estimated 40,000
employees of private security contractors. Cannon and Drotleff were
employed by Paravent, an affiliate of Xe, formerly Blackwater, which gained
notoriety in Iraq after guards protecting a convoy opened fire in a busy
Baghdad square in September 2007, killing as many as 17 civilians. The latest case involves a
shooting May 5, 2009 at the scene of a traffic accident in Kabul in which the
two Paravent guards are alleged to have opened fire with an AK-47 and a 9mm
pistol, killing two people and wounding one. The guards had left their
base without permission and were escorting a vehicle carrying three interpreters
to a taxi stand when there was an accident. The defense maintains that
the accident was caused by a third vehicle and that the guards opened fire in
self defense. But the prosecution alleges
that the third car had stopped to render assistance, but tried to leave the
scene after the Paravent guards, who had been drinking heavily earlier in the
day, became "combative." It alleges that Cannon and
Drotleff then opened fire on the departing vehicle, killing a passenger and a
pedestrian bystander. The vehicle's driver was wounded but survived. Copyright © 2010 AFP. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iS-mijlSOvw7vFgTcx9OSr4gCHPg |