blackwater massacre documentary

Blackwater was founded by ex-Navy SEAL Erik Prince in 1997 as a shooting range and military training ground in Moyock, North Carolina. Amid the wreckage, colorful clouds billowed into the air from the convoy's parting gift -- multicolored smoke bombs. Share this via Twitter The man was Ahmed, a 20-year-old medical student at the top of his class, and the woman his mother, Mohasin, a successful dermatologist and mother of three. [47], The U.S. State Department said it planned to investigate what it called a "terrible incident". "It was a horror movie," said Khalaf, describing the aftermath of the now notorious Blackwater shootings. Blackwater was founded by Erik Prince, whose sister, Betsy DeVos, was appointed Trumps education secretary. As of 2021, their name is Academi after being taken over by an "unnamed group of private investors.". Ultimately, Blackwater repeatedly insisted that their guards "were fired upon and responded appropriately." [38] Waxman stated that "the controversy over Blackwater is an unfortunate demonstration of the perils of excessive reliance on private security contractors. If it is determined that one person was complicit in the wrongdoing, we would support accountability in that. Blackwater massacre survivors In Iraq slam Trump's decision to - CNN The trial against Heard, Liberty, Slatten, and Slough began around June 2014 and lasted over two months. On September 16, 2007, a car bomb went off in Baghdad, Iraq, near the Izdihar Compound, where a U.S. diplomat was meeting with Iraqi officials, at approximately 11:53 AM. John M. Patarini was the FBI agent leading the investigation, and although they went into the investigation thinking that civilians had merely been caught in crossfire, they soon realized that "it was a massacre along the lines of My Lai in Vietnam," per The Guardian. In one of the most in-depth collection of testimonials to date regarding Blackwater, Khalaf was among five witnesses and victims flown from Baghdad to meet with Susan Burke, William O'Neil and their team of lawyers and investigators. We were in a combat zone where things can happen quite unexpectedly, especially when issues involve potentially negative impacts on a lucrative security contract." [63], A U.S. judge's decision to dismiss all charges against Blackwater on January 1, 2010, sparked outrage in the Arab world. Donald Trump has pardoned four security guards from the private military firm Blackwater who were serving jail sentences for killing 14 civilians including two children in Baghdad in 2007, a. Some of the counts resulted in a mistrial, but none of the defendants got an acquittal on any count. Blackwater despite numerous scandals, congressional investigations, FBI probes and documented killings of civilians in both Iraq and Afghanistan remained a central part of the Obama. Opinion | Trump's Most Disgusting Pardons - The New York Times Haythem identified his son from what was left of his shoes. [28] Nicholas Slatten was found guilty of first-degree murder, and Slough, Liberty and Heard were found guilty of voluntary and attempted manslaughter charges, and of using a machine gun to commit a violent crime. A few token prosecutions of a handful of Blackwater employees will not be enough. [7][8] U.N. experts said this "violated U.S. obligations under international law". While they weren't the only private contractor to provide military security, the name Blackwater would soon be so notorious that the company would change their name. Explained: Why Trump's pardon to Blackwater contractors is "[21] Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki harshly criticized the dismissal. [1] The ambush [ edit] A State Department employee who was walking into the department's Baghdad operations center on the day of the incident heard a radio call from the convoy: "Contact, contact, contact! With Georgia Chris, Amy Simon, McCayne Blomberg, Jenny Robinson. It remains unclear whether the team member mistook the civilians for insurgents. [34], In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, Blackwater's rights to conduct work in Iraq were temporarily suspended. [54], Radio logs released in December 2008 seemed to affirm that the guards had been responding to an attack on September 16. US prosecutors are now reportedly trying to build a case against those involved in the Sept. 16 shootings. Khalaf turned back toward the Yarmouk road to see what might have spurred the shooting and heard a woman yell, "My son! [63] The suit was settled for an undisclosed sum in January 2010. [41] Senate Democratic leaders said they planned to pass similar legislation as soon as possible. Blackwater mercenaries committed a massacre. [81] A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found "systemic" errors in the district court's 2009 decision to dismiss charges against the five former Blackwater guards and added "We find that the district court's findings depend on an erroneous view of the law". Also quoted in the memorandum was David Boslego, a retired US army colonel, who said the massacre was a grossly excessive use of force and grossly inappropriate for an entity whose only job was to provide personal protection to somebody in an armoured vehicle. [14] The Iraqi government vowed to punish Blackwater. Another young man, 27-year-old Abu Hassam, suddenly became the head of his family just a week earlier, when on Sept. 9 his older brother was shot in front of the family's carpet shop -- in an incident also attributed to Blackwater. That day destroyed me completely, Kinani said. In 2002, Blackwater received its first contract from the United States government. But according to ICD, some of the plaintiffs claimed that they were "forced to accept the settlement.". Iraqi police and Iraqi Army soldiers, mistaking the stun grenades for fragmentation grenades, opened fire at the Blackwater men, to which they responded. Like Khalaf, Hooby said he never saw anyone on his side of the square make even a threatening gesture toward the Blackwater convoy. Raven 23 "returned defensive fire" and withdrew from Nisour Square with one of its BearCat vehicles in tow. After the September 11th attacks, Blackwater expanded their security-related work and followed the U.S. military into Afghanistan. Even in this case, the FBI did not visit the crime scene for more than two weeks after the incident, during which time State Department investigators interviewing Blackwater employees offered them limited immunity, complicating the prosecution. U.S. military reports appear to corroborate the Iraqi government's contention that Blackwater was at fault in the incident. He suffered from his wounds for over a year . The case was consolidated with four other cases against Blackwater and on January 1, 2010, the plaintiffs agreed to a settlement and to withdraw their complaint. And Blackwater is not the only problem. [18][30] Iraqi investigators also alleged that Blackwater helicopters fired into the cars from the air, as at least one car had bullet holes in its roof; Blackwater has denied any of its aerial units discharged weapons. Despite the reports and investigations that determined that the use of force was unjustified, the Blackwater guards maintain that they'd "never take an innocent life. This contract ended up being extended into 2006 and the total cost of that single contract came out to over $300 million. (Iraqi police) or any of the local security forces fired back at them", the official continued. It's all the news that's fit to watch. Some of the Iraqis told me that they don't even care about the money. [14], On October 2, 2007, the Democratic staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released a report stating that Blackwater USA guards had used deadly force weekly in Iraq and had inflicted "significant casualties and property damage". [48] According to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice promised a "fair and transparent" investigation into the incident. [82][20] On June 5, 2012, the US Supreme Court declined to review the Appeal Court ruling, allowing the trial to proceed. Assadi, 31, a stoic, unsmiling man, became the head of the family after his older brother Usama was killed in the shootings. The other three guards faced decades in prison; the weapons charges carried a minimum 30-year sentence under a law enacted during the 1990s cocaine epidemic. (These remarks were never actually delivered; the Department of Justice launched an investigation the day before the hearing and asked the committee not to discuss the details of the Sept. 16 incident. Sign up for the VE Newsletter https://www.vigilanceelite.com/newsletterErik Prince is an American businessman, former U.S. Navy SEAL officer,and . According to Courthouse News Service, they also stated that Slough, Heard, and Liberty should also be re-sentenced "because their 30-year prison terms were too long" and constituted "cruel and unusual punishment.". Blackwater has made more than $1.5 billion in "security" contracts in Iraq alone since 2003. According to CNN, between January and September 2005, Blackwater guards fired their guns 195 times, "an average of 1.4 times a week." But this was likely due to the fact that the U.S.Iraq Status of Forces Agreement, which took effect in 2009, ended contractor immunity. The report found that the use of contractors such as Blackwater was a "new form of mercenary activity" and illegal under international law; however, the United States is not a signatory of the 1989 UN Mercenary Convention banning the use of mercenaries. The shooting then turned heavier, Khalaf said, his eyes red-brimmed and serious. The FBI also concluded that there was no evidence to support Blackwater's claims that they'd been fired upon by Iraqi civilians. This time, only four out of the five guards were charged, since the charges against Ball were dropped based on "prosecutorial discretion. Now they'll go free. And Blackwater didn't make the investigation easy. That day changed my life forever. A sixth guard, Jeremy Ridgeway, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with investigators, World reports. The logs depicted "a hectic eight minutes in which the guards repeatedly reported incoming gunfire from insurgents and Iraqi police". FBI investigators who visited the scene in the following days described it as the My Lai massacre of Iraq a reference to the infamous slaughter of civilian villagers by US troops during the Vietnam war in which only one soldier was convicted. The Burke O'Neil lawsuit may be the only way that victims receive compensation for their loss. and thus prosecution by U.S. [77] "Prosecutors should therefore have built their case against the men without them", a BBC report explained. He documented what was left of his brother's car. AFP. Blackwater Guards Found Guilty in 2007 Iraq Killings According to the civil lawsuit filed against Blackwater by Saadoon's family, Moonen was drunk when he shot and killed Saadoon "for no reason." And none of the I.P. But such legislation is only as good as the oversight and enforcement that accompany it. Fifteen minutes later, 17 Iraqi civilians were dead, dozens more wounded, and a white sedan that had been engulfed in flames contained two bodies charred beyond recognition. [8][98] A White House statement said the men had a "long history of service to the nation" as veterans of the US Armed Forces, and that there was strong support for the pardons from the public and elected officials. (L-r) Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty, Paul Slough, Nicholas Slatten. )[60], Baghdad resident Halim Mashkoor told AP Television News, "We see the security firms doing whatever they want in the streets. Join our movement today. According to The Seattle Times, the lawsuit was reportedly settled in January 2010, and the U.S. Department of Justice decided not to seek an indictment against Moonen. Blackwater's owner, Erik Prince, recently said his company is spending $2 million a month in legal . Private. "Blackwater": the major crimes of the most famous American PMCs He watched, he said, as the Blackwater convoy made the U-turn toward the street where he stood directing traffic. However, the company was allowed to continue to operate in Iraq until January 2009 when the U.S.Iraq Status of Forces Agreement took effect. [54] He received an honorable discharge in 2002 and then enlisted in the Texas National Guard. When Slatten was tried for a third time, the jury deliberated for five days before finding him guilty of first-degree murder in December 2018. Blackwater: Directed by Bill Rogers, Bill Schreiber, R. Douglas Zipperer. Adrienne Ballenger . In October, the US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released its analysis of Blackwater's own internal reporting since 2005, which found 195 shooting incidents in the last two years, including 160 in which Blackwater employees fired the first shot. However, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki urged the United States to end their contract with Blackwater. [62] After a group of Iraqi ministers backed the Iraqi Interior Ministry's decision to shut down Blackwater USA's operations in Iraq,[29] Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called on the U.S. government to end its contract with Blackwater[39] and called on Blackwater to pay the families $8million in compensation. He identified his wife of 20 years by a dental bridge. The numerals and letters matched the family's plate. Blackwater Mercenaries Filmed on a Rampage in Iraq & Shooting Civilians from WarPosting After being leaked by a former employee of the notorious PMC, the footage dated April 2006 was featured in a piece called "The Warrior Class" by Charles Glass. [54] He served one tour in Iraq before being hired as a Personal Security Specialist in Iraq. Boslego also said the attack had a negative effect on our mission, [an] adverse effect It made our relationship with the Iraqis in general more strained.. In less high-profile cases involving US contractors, no one has offered anything. "[32] According to Blackwater vice-president Marty Strong, the convoy was hit with "a large explosive device" and "repeated small arms fire" which disabled a vehicle. Blackwater's contracts for protecting American diplomats also weren't limited to Iraq. His brother then headed to the square, where he called Haythem to tell him he had found a charred white car with a license plate number written in the sand. The key people in this have not spoken with investigators. - Asser Institute (Decision Date: 31 December 2009)", "Ex-Blackwater Guards Face Renewed Charges", "Blackwater guards face new U.S. charges for Iraq shooting deaths", "Legal questions loom in Blackwater convictions", "Blackwater guards found guilty in Iraq shootings", "Emails Reveal Discord Over Blackwater Charges", "Ex-Blackwater Guards Sentenced to Long Prison Terms in 2007 Killings of Iraqi Civilians", "U.S. Appeals Court Tosses Ex-Blackwater Guard's Conviction in 2007 Baghdad Massacre", "Murder conviction in Blackwater case thrown out, other sentences overturned", "In Blackwater Case, Court Rejects a Murder Conviction and Voids 3 Sentences", Recent Case: D.C. The Untold Truth Of The Blackwater Massacre - Grunge Sadly, this lawsuit may be the only way that the victims and their families receive remotely adequate compensation for their losses. A lawsuit filed in 2007 also accused Blackwater of killing five Iraqi civilians without justification just one week before the Nisour Square massacre. I Sued Blackwater for the Massacre of Iraqi Civilians. Trump Just In November last year, he pardoned a former US army commando who was set to stand trial over the killing of a suspected Afghan bomb-maker, and a former army lieutenant convicted of murder for ordering his men to fire at three Afghans. Share this via Printer. Tasks of the PMC are the support and training of military and police operations. "Conduct our deepest love to all the Americans who support and work hard to stop killing of innocent people all over the world," he said. Blackwater Mercenaries Filmed on a Rampage in Iraq & Shooting Civilians [72] A sixth Blackwater guard, Jeremy Ridgeway of California, struck a deal with prosecutors on December 4, 2008 and pleaded guilty to one count each of voluntary manslaughter, attempted manslaughter, and aiding and abetting,[72][3] and agreed to testify against the other five men. [89][90][91] The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit's fractured per curiam decision first found that Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act authorized the prosecutions, over the partial dissent of Judge Janice Rogers Brown. [71], In December 2008, the United States Department of Justice announced it was filing criminal charges against five of the Blackwater employees, and ordered them to surrender to the FBI. In remarks prepared for delivery before a congressional hearing in October, Blackwater chairman Erik Prince claimed company guards "returned fire at threatening targets," including "men with AK-47s firing on the convoy" and "approaching vehicles that appeared to be suicide car bombers." The White House further stated that the Court of Appeals "ruled that additional evidence should have been presented at Mr Slatten's trial", and recently that prosecutors said "that the lead Iraqi investigator, who prosecutors relied heavily on to verify that there were no insurgent victims and to collect evidence, may have had ties to insurgent groups himself". However, as The New York Times reports, "not one witness heard or saw any gunfire coming from Iraqis around the square." [19] According to this account, the security team fired warning shots and then lethal fire at the Kia. Share this via WhatsApp ", Meanwhile, on October 11, 2007, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed charges against Blackwater U.S.A. on behalf of an injured survivor and the families of three men who were killed during the Nisour Square massacre. Even General David Petraeus and former ambassador Ryan Crocker, top officials in charge of Iraq policy at the time of the massacre, issued a joint statement called the pardons "hugely damaging, an action that tells the world that Americans abroad can commit the most heinous crimes with impunity.". [93], On December 19, 2018, Slatten was found guilty of murder[94] and again was sentenced to life in prison on August 14, 2019. "I raised my left arm high in the air to try to signal to the convoy to stop the shooting," he said, thinking that it would respond to such a gesture by a police officer. None of the bullets the lab had available could be matched to the rifles used by the guards. The Iraqi government ordered Blackwater to leave Iraq as soon as a joint Iraqi-U.S. committee finished drafting new guidelines on private contractors under the Iraqi-U.S. security agreement. Dec. 24, 2020 Mohammed Hafedh Abdulrazzaq Kinani with a photo of his 9-year-old son, Ali, who was killed by Blackwater. Meanwhile, it took two weeks before a 10-person FBI team was sent to investigate the massacre for the government. After it was added, defense attorneys contended a 30-year sentence would be too severe, since the law was intended to deter gang members from carrying automatic weapons. [19] The three justifiable killings were those of the two passengers in the white Kia sedan and an unidentified Iraqi nearby. Share this via Reddit The New York Times reports that when Richter confronted Daniel Carroll, Blackwater's Iraq project manager, about this on August 21, 2007, Carroll became incredibly aggressive and told Richter "that he [Carroll] could kill me [Richter] at that very moment and no one could or would do anything about it as we were in Iraq. Nisour Square massacre - Wikipedia Meanwhile, although Moonen admitted that he was intoxicated, he maintained that he shot in self-defense. [92] However, the court then found that the mandatory minimum sentences as applied to the defendants were unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishments, over the partial dissent of Judge Judith W. Their first contract, awarded in June 2004, was for $100 million for one year. [26][27], On September 27, 2007, The New York Times reported that during the chaotic incident at Nisour Square, one member of the Blackwater security team continued to fire on civilians despite urgent cease-fire calls from colleagues. An error occurred while subscribing your email address. Assadi is now the sole breadwinner for the entire family. Fareed Walid Hassan remembers that "the shooting started like rain." The Kia continued to roll forward after the driver was killed, according to an eyewitness, and Raven 23 continued to fire on it, killing the passenger (the driver's mother); eventually, the Kia was struck by a grenade and was incinerated. Graphs are temporarily unavailable due to technical issues. In the span of 20 minutes, 17 Iraqi people were killed and another 24 were left wounded. [66] Howard Krongard, who was appointed Inspector General of the U.S. State Department in 2005,[67] resigned in December 2007 after he was accused by the House Oversight Committee of improperly interfering with investigations into the Blackwater Baghdad shootings. I don't know how to manage my life or care for my other two children without her. Along with a few hundred others, he stayed there as the chaos unfolded, watching as the helicopters circling above the street started shooting at those below. Contractor Banned by Iraq Over Shootings", "F.B.I. At first, this seemed completely normal for the totally abnormal world of Baghdad in September 2007. This wasn't the first time that Blackwater was involved in an unnecessary shooting. Rogers. Circuit Holds It Cruel and Unusual to Impose Mandatory Thirty-Year Sentence on Military Contractors for Gun Charge, "Former Blackwater contractor found guilty of murder in Iraq massacre", "Former Blackwater Guard Sentenced to Life for 2007 Baghdad Traffic-Circle Shooting", "Former Blackwater security contractor sentenced to life in Iraq shootings; In all, 10 men, two women and two boys, ages 9 and 11, were killed", "Blackwater Contractors Resentenced in 2007 Attack on Baghdad Civilians", "Survivors of Blackwater massacre in Iraq slam Trump's pardons for US guards behind killing", "Statement from the Press Secretary Regarding Executive Grants of Clemency", "Relative of Blackwater victim in Iraq says pardons 'unfair', "UN criticises Trump's pardons for Blackwater guards jailed over Iraq killings", "I Sued Blackwater for the Massacre of Iraqi Civilians. Circuit ordered for a new trial to be held, stating that Slatten should've had a separate trial. He spent the next three days in the hospital and underwent major surgery on his right arm, which was fractured by a bullet. Khalaf's observations are backed up by official accounts, including leaked FBI findings, which concluded that at least 14 of the 17 shooting deaths were unjustified, and statements by military. I am overwhelmed with emotion at this fantastic news.. NBC News reports that they repainted and repaired their trucks in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, despite the fact that the repairs "essentially destroyed evidence" that would've shown if Blackwater was facing hostile gunfire.

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