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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
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January 24th,
2010 - Biden: US to Appeal Dismissal of Blackwater Case |
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Biden: US to Appeal
Dismissal of Blackwater Case By Matt Apuzzo Associated Press January 24, 2010 Baghdad - The U.S. will
appeal a court decision dismissing manslaughter charges against five
Blackwater Worldwide guards involved in a deadly 2007 Baghdad shooting, U.S.
Vice President Joe Biden said Saturday. Biden's announcement after a
meeting with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani shows just how diplomatically
sensitive the incident remains nearly three years later. A lawyer for one
guard, noting that word of the intended appeal came in Iraq, accused the
Obama administration of political expediency and said the U.S. was pursuing
an innocent man, rather than justice. Blackwater security
contractors were guarding U.S. diplomats when the guards opened fire in
Nisoor Square, a crowded Baghdad intersection, on Sept. 16, 2007. Seventeen
people were killed, including women and children, in a shooting that inflamed
anti-American sentiment in Iraq. Biden expressed his
"personal regret" for the shooting and said the Obama
administration was disappointed by the dismissal. "A dismissal is not an
acquittal," he said. The U.S. rebuffed Iraqi
demands that the U.S. contractors face trial in Iraqi courts. After a lengthy
investigation, U.S. prosecutors charged five of the contractors with
manslaughter and took a guilty plea from a sixth. But the case fell apart when
a federal trial judge in Washington, Ricardo Urbina, said in a Dec. 31 ruling
that the Justice Department mishandled evidence and violated the guards'
constitutional rights. Prosecutors now face difficult odds getting an appeals
court to reinstate the case. The dismissal outraged many
Iraqis, who said it showed the Americans considered themselves above the law.
The Iraqi government began collecting signatures for a class-action lawsuit
from victims who were wounded or lost relatives. Lawyers for two of the
Blackwater guards - Donald Ball, a former U.S. Marine from West Valley City,
Utah, and Dustin Heard, a former U.S. Marine from Knoxville, Tenn. - sharply
criticized the U.S. government's planned appeal. "By announcing this
decision in Iraq, through an elected official, the United States makes clear
it has decided to do what is politically expedient, rather than what is just
based on Judge Urbina's unshakable findings that the prosecutors engaged in
gross misconduct and intentionally violated Mr. Ball's constitutional
rights," attorney Steven McCool, who represents Ball, said in a
statement. "In the end, the United States has shown it will pursue an
innocent man, rather than justice." Attorney David Schertler,
who represents Heard, said moving ahead with an appeal "appears to be
based upon political considerations rather than a careful consideration of
the legal merits of the case as it should be." White House officials said
the U.S. Justice Department decided on the appeal and that Biden's trip was
not originally intended to be the way it would be announced. The White House
learned of the Justice decision Friday night, which led to the timing of the
announcement. Messages seeking comment
from lawyers for the other three guards who fought the charges were not
immediately returned Saturday. Those guards are Evan
Liberty, a former U.S. Marine from Rochester, N.H.; Nick Slatten, a former
U.S. Army sergeant from Sparta, Tenn., and Paul Slough, an U.S. Army veteran
from Keller, Texas. The sixth guard, Jeremy
Ridgeway of California, pleaded guilty to one count each of manslaughter,
attempted manslaughter, and aiding and abetting. It's unclear what Urbina's
ruling means for him. Blackwater has said the
guards were innocent, contending there were ambushed by insurgents.
Prosecutors said the shooting was unprovoked. Court documents paint a
murky picture of a case rife with conflicting evidence. Some witnesses say
the Blackwater convoy was under fire; others say it wasn't. Some said the
entire convoy fired into the intersection; others said only a few men opened
fire. Even the government's key
witnesses, three members of the Blackwater convoy, at times seemed to
undercut the government's case. Since the shooting, the
Myock, N.C.-based Blackwater has renamed itself Xe Services and overhauled
its management. Iraq has pulled the company's license to operate in the
country. © 2010 The Associated Press. External link: http://license.icopyright.net/s13/3.5721?icx_id=D9DE0A801 |