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Blackwater mercenaries in helicopters also fired into traffic from overhead. Shots were fired everywhere. Who would hold party elites accountable to the values they proclaim to have? Before embarking on the clandestine Kyiv visit, Erik Prince consulted with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Director National Intelligence Avril Haines, with whom his relationship goes a long way the back to the early nineties after she purchased a bar in Fells Point, Baltimore, which had been seized in a drug raid. First ones from 16,000. Consider what the world of media would look like without The Intercept. Again, the result was the civil legal system exhausting every defense afforded to Blackwater and the men. courts. "Today we were surprised that the American president issued a decision to pardon these criminals, murderers and thugs," Salman said, speaking from Baghdad. It was funded with millions that. [38] Waxman stated that "the controversy over Blackwater is an unfortunate demonstration of the perils of excessive reliance on private security contractors. Russian Forces strike Ukrainian Armys Electronic Intelligence Center in Kiev Region. It was chaotic. NPR reports that sometime after the Al-Qaeda bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen in October 2000, where 17 sailors were killed, Blackwater won a $46 million contract from the U.S government for "training sailors in counterterrorism." After the September 11th attacks, Blackwater expanded their security-related work . The massacre took place in 2007, when the four were working as guards for Blackwater, a private military contractor, on an assignment in Baghdad. The U.S. legal system, a pillar of fairness in the world, had worked. He never received treatment. [1][2][3] The killings outraged Iraqis and strained relations between Iraq and the United States. The fire has since been extinguished after the plant was captured by Russian troops and no radiation leakage has been detected. Mohammed met members of the U.S. Army on the streets and handed out candy and juice when he saw them. Defence lawyers argued their clients returned fire after being ambushed by Iraqi insurgents. The massacre resulted in the deaths of 17 unarmed Iraqis and wounded at least 20 others. Trump Pardons Blackwater 4 for Nisour Square Massacre in Iraq, because For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. It was not an easy path in either the civil or criminal legal system. Raven 23 "returned defensive fire" and withdrew from Nisour Square with one of its BearCat vehicles in tow. [87], On April 13, 2015, federal district judge Royce C. Lamberth sentenced Slatten to life in prison, while the other three guards were sentenced to 30 years in prison each. He was shot in the abdomen. Among his clients were the parents of a 9-year-old boy who was killed as he sat in the back of his father's car. The Nisour Square massacre was one of the most publicized US crimes of the 8-year Iraq war. Former Blackwater guards sentenced for massacre of unarmed Iraqi "I think what that does is it sends the wrong message to the people of Iraq, who we told we were going to come in and protect, and to the rest of the world, that the pillars of justice upon which the United States is based on has a crack in it," he says. Extending the hand of friendship, Russia significantly drawdown its forces along the western border before the summit last year. [54] He enlisted in 1999, and served in Bosnia with the 3rd Infantry Division. Iraqi police and Iraqi Army soldiers, mistaking the stun grenades for fragmentation grenades, opened fire at the Blackwater men, to which they responded. Mohammed quickly got out of the car and saw blood inside the rear window. Ukrainian POW Unveils, Russian forces eliminating Ukrainian saboteurs that violated border, Greetings from Oujda, Morocco, the City of Mosques, VT RADIO: Exposing East Palestine Train Derailment Disaster with VTs, VT RADIO: Foreign Policy Gone Mad with VTs Senior Editor, VT RADIO: UFOs, Aliens, & Chinese Balloons with VTs Jack, Many Predicted NATO Expansion Would Lead to War. "[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. A former private military guard has been convicted of first degree murder by a court in Washington after taking part in a mass killing of unarmed civilians in Baghdad in 2007. Let us assume that I travel to America and kill 17 American citizens. [54] He served one tour in Iraq before being hired as a Personal Security Specialist in Iraq. That day changed my life forever. No wonder Russia formally issued an ultimatum on Tuesday, March 1, that it would target the hub of covert warfare. "The victims' families finally saw some measure of justice when these men were convicted in 2014 and sentenced to prison. [2] Reactions [ edit] "This was Baghdad's Bloody Sunday," Dickinson told NPR's Mary Louise Kelly on Wednesday. [16] The FBI investigation found that, of the 17 Iraqis killed by the guards, at least 14 were shot without cause. Suddenly, bullets began to riddle Mohammeds car. Opinion | Trump's Most Disgusting Pardons - The New York Times "I am overwhelmed with emotion at this fantastic news.". U.S. military reports appear to corroborate the Iraqi government's contention that Blackwater was at fault in the incident. Slattern was sentenced to life and the others to 30 years in prison each. He died in the hospital hallway surrounded by family as he was asking for water. Dark Truth Exposed: East Palestine Rail Disaster, BOAC 707 Sabotage, Why people should start business in Lithuania, Best Strategy To Play Online Baccarat Games, Effects of Incontinence in Various Areas of Life, Conversations from the porch Episode 19 with Jack Heart &, Covert Operations In Vietnam: The Incomplete History of US-Norway Collaboration. A rocket grenade was fired into the car next to him. Trump's pardon of Blackwater 'Four' highlights deep divisions over Iraq [24] The driver of the Kia was shot once in the head by a Blackwater contractor and was killed. [95][96] Heard, Liberty, and Slough were resentenced on September 5, 2019 to terms approximately half the original 30-year periods. [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. [47], The U.S. State Department said it planned to investigate what it called a "terrible incident". They could not do anything for him. "Pardoning them contributes to impunity and has the effect of emboldening others to commit such crimes in the future. I felt I had done that, and I knew the prosecutors were doing that. Majid survived because he was on the passenger side of the car and was protected from most of the barrage of bullets. "We've backed off that. Four Blackwater security guards convicted in 2014 of carrying out a massacre of Iraqi civilians, sparking an international outcry over the use of mercenaries in war . Mohammed was a businessman dealing in auto salvage. The Iraqi government condemned the pardons, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying in a statement late on Wednesday that it would follow up with the U.S. through diplomatic channels to urge a reconsideration. Dec. 24, 2020 Mohammed Hafedh Abdulrazzaq Kinani with a photo of his 9-year-old son, Ali, who was killed by Blackwater. The pardons are one of several the US president has granted to American service personnel and contractors accused or convicted of crimes against non-combatants and civilians in war zones. The hallways were full. 'I hope she's scarred for life' Recalling my time as a Blackwater The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq increasingly relied on private contractors, Blackwater being only the most infamous. "With those sentences reversed by the stroke of a pen, who will trust the American justice system again?". The traffic circle, Nisour Square, was only a block away from one of the main entrance gates to Baghdads Green Zone. [55], On April 1, 2009, the Associated Press reported that forensic tests on bullets were inconclusive. US pardons Blackwater guards: An 'affront to justice' - UN experts Video of the aftermath includes an image of a human brain on the road in Nisour Square. But when the shooting started, his life and the lives of his entire family changed forever. https://www.ournewearthnews.com/2022/03/04/massacre-in-ukraine-caught-on-camera-and-probably-still-unfolding-viewer-discretion-advised-please-pray/. The four were convicted at then VP Joe Biden's insistence, and were serving jail terms. The Untold Truth Of The Blackwater Massacre - Grunge Constellis did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Machiavellian plan of NATOs military strategists is to establish refugee settlements with the humanitarian assistance in the border regions of Ukraines neighboring countries Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria, and then provide guerrilla warfare training and lethal arms to all able-bodied men of military age in order to bleed Russias security forces in the protracted irregular warfare. 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! The American judiciary is fair and equitable. Three former employees of the US private military contractor once known as Blackwater were sentenced to 30 years in prison on Monday and a fourth received a life sentence . Erik Prince, chair of the Prince Group LLC and Blackwater USA, holds up a picture showing the effect of a car bomb while testifying during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on Capitol Hill Oct. 2, 2007 in Washington, D.C. Mohammed was going to visit his sister and her children. Rather than mitigating the suffering of Ukraines disenfranchised masses held hostage by the Zelensky regime, the self-styled champions of human rights are doing all they can to lure Russia into their bear trap project, a term borrowed from the Soviet-Afghan War of the eighties when Western regimes used Pakistans security forces and generous funding from the oil-rich Gulf States for providing guerrilla warfare training and lethal weaponry to Afghan jihadists to bleed the security forces of former the Soviet Union in the protracted war. The bullets rained through the roofs of cars, taxis and buses, he says. The Nisour Square massacre was one of the most prominent events of the US-Iraq conflict, raising doubts about America's true intentions in the region. I know that each of them placed great faith in the U.S. legal system. Each step of the way, the U.S. legal system ensured that these men were given fair and just prosecutions. "This incident motivated the Iraqi authorities to seek the withdrawal of American troops from the country. . Dozens of witnesses were brought to the United States to testify about what happened on September 16, 2007. Being so close to the Green Zone, he thought someone important might be entering or leaving the area. As he was leaving, his youngest son, who was affectionately given the nickname Alawi, asked to go with his father. When the first indictments were dismissed on New Years Eve in 2009, they were told that the prosecutions would continue. Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater and the Unsung Heroes Further, besides advising and assisting the UAEs petro-monarchy in strengthening the police state, Erik Prince alsoreportedly provided[3] weapons and modified aircraft to eastern Libyas warlord and former CIA asset Khalifa Haftar, backed by Egypt and UAE, in his thwarted military campaign against the Tripoli government lasting from April 2019 to June 2020. Blackwater mercenary defends role in Iraq massacre after Trump pardon Mohammed forced a doctor to look at Ali. In this 2007 video, witnesses shed light on the killing of 17 Iraqis by American contractors in Baghdad.Read the article here: http://nyti.ms/1u1cNzySubscrib. courts. The Iraqi government and Iraqi police investigator Faris Saadi Abdul stated that the killings were unprovoked. 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. The Nisour Square Massacre, in which Blackwater mercenaries fired hundreds of rounds in a crowded Baghdad traffic square, killing fourteen Iraqis, including ten women and two children, and . [99], Clemency caused outrage among Iraqi citizens and family members of the victims. [54] He received an honorable discharge in 2002 and then enlisted in the Texas National Guard. It remains unclear whether the team member mistook the civilians for insurgents. When the Blackwater contractors were finally convicted seven years later in 2014, that was a sign of relief, but you needed political will for that. He received poor treatment because his injuries were less life threatening, but he was left with a disfigured and useless arm. [15] The incident sparked at least five investigations, including one from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Ukraine War Anniversary: UN and China Work for Peace, Devilish Zelensky, Kiev Hid Its Dead Soldiers in the Ravines. An ambulance was called, and Ali and Mohammad were rushed to the other side of town. [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. About the author:Nauman Sadiq is an Islamabad-based geopolitical and national security analyst focused on geostrategic affairs and hybrid warfare in the Af-Pak and the Middle East regions. They started out as a private security firm providing training support to law enforcement, the justice department, and military organizations and received their first contract from the United States government in 2000 after the bombing of the USS Cole. Monday's sentencing was. Joining is simple and doesnt need to cost a lot: You can become a sustaining member for as little as $3 or $5 a month. A former security guard working for US mercenary firm Blackwater has been found guilty of murder for his role in a notorious massacre of unarmed civilians in downtown Baghdad in 2007. U.S. troops were coming under fire in Baghdad and major Iraqi cities from the resistance forces. The men, all military veterans working in Iraq for the private security contractor Blackwater, were convicted of massacring 14 civilians in an unprovoked and unjustified rampage of gunfire and. Only. Covert Operations In Vietnam: The Incomplete History of US-Norway Collaboration. "Before he died, he went crazy as he used to go out into the street and whenever he saw a young man, he imagined that he was Mahdi," he said. [14] The Iraqi government vowed to punish Blackwater. On January 31, 2009, the U.S. State Department notified Blackwater that it would not be renewing its security contract with the company. Likewise, the civil case ran through North Carolina state court, was removed to federal court, and then sent back to state court. Free shipping for many products! [17], Just before noon on September 16, 2007, a car bomb exploded near the Izdihar Compound where US and Iraqi officials were meeting,[20]:547 and a 19-man Blackwater Tactical Support Team (TST) consisting of a convoy of four trucks, answering to the call sign "Raven 23", took up positions on the south side of Nisour Square to secure an evacuation route for the US officials and another Blackwater team providing security for them. When Mohammed opened the door, his son fell toward him as his skull opened and a large part of Alis brain fell onto the pavement between his fathers feet. The Nisour Square massacre was the FBIs most comprehensive and expensive criminal investigation since 9/11. hide caption. Mohammed and his sister screamed for their children to get down. Blackwater mercenaries on trial in US court for 2007 Iraq massacre The man that just spoken to him was dead. The Nisour Square massacreoccurred on September 16, 2007, when employees of Blackwater Security Consulting (now Constellis), a private military companycontracted by the US government to provide security services in Iraq, shot at Iraqi civilians, killing 17 and injuring 20 in Nisour Square, Baghdad, while escorting a U.S. embassy convoy. 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. The Blackwater incident cost the American military in the Middle East a lot more, experts interviewed by RT believe.