"Today we were surprised that the American president issued a decision to pardon these criminals, murderers and thugs," Salman said, speaking from Baghdad. U.S. troops were coming under fire in Baghdad and major Iraqi cities from the resistance forces. Majid Al Kareem was 51 years old when he was shot. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [78] The opinion elaborated "the government failed to establish that the Iraqi witnesses it presented to the second grand jury were not in any way influenced by their previous exposure to the defendants' compelled statements. Blackwater mercenary Nicholas Slatten sentenced to life in prison for )[60], Baghdad resident Halim Mashkoor told AP Television News, "We see the security firms doing whatever they want in the streets. Nicholas Slatten, 35, was a former security guard at the private US military firm Blackwater and was based in Baghdad. Slough, Liberty and Heard were convicted on multiple charges of voluntary and attempted manslaughter in 2014, while Slatten, who was the first to start shooting, was convicted of first-degree murder. That day destroyed me completely, Kinani said. [19] According to this account, the security team fired warning shots and then lethal fire at the Kia. Nasser, who attended the 2014 trial in the United States, said his brother's death had broken his father's heart. [56], On April 1, 2011, the Associated Press reported on Erik Prince's seven-hour testimony about what allegedly transpired. Those Warnings Were Ignored, How Russia Will Counterpunch U.S./EU Declaration of War, Khazarian Mafia at War: The Jewish Oligarch Who Planned the Terror Attack on Bryansk, Covert Operations In Vietnam: The Incomplete History of US-Norway Collaboration. The pardons could damage the United States' reputation abroad, as they undo the significance of the convictions, which had demonstrated that U.S. military contractors could be held accountable if they conducted criminal actions. "[21] Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki harshly criticized the dismissal. More than 3,000 troops remain in Iraq, according to defense officials, with a drawdown scheduled for January. They are coming to defend freedom, defend life. When Slattens conviction was overturned, I was concerned that the case would be ignored. They then set off stun grenades to clear the scene. An Iraqi looks at a burned car in Nisour Square in the western Baghdad neighborhood of Yarmukh, on Sept. 24, 2007, eight days after Blackwater guards who were escorting U.S. Embassy officials opened fire there. 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. 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. The Blackwater Shooting (2007) | The New York Times - YouTube As many as 504 children, women and older men were killed by a US infantry company, members of which also raped numerous women and girls. Opinion | Trump's Most Disgusting Pardons - The New York Times [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. 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 . Because any state, particularly those pursuing socialist policies, that dares to challenge the Western monopoly over global trade and economic policies is internationally isolated and its national economy goes bankrupt over a period of time. The order did not say when the suspension would expire. That wasnt unusual. 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. Mohammed kept seeing the man on the ground next to him being fired upon as he lay dead. [10][11] The next day, Blackwater Worldwide's license to operate in Iraq was temporarily revoked. Their bodies were beaten and burned, with their charred corpses then dragged through the city streets before being hanged over a bridge crossing the Euphrates River. But Trump reached a peace agreement with the Taliban and then lost the re-election bid before he could consider the bizarre proposal. His sister was safe. Despite having immense firepower at its disposal that could readily turn the tide in conflicts as protracted as Syrias proxy war, the Russian advance in Ukraine has been slower than expected according to most estimates because Russia is only targeting military infrastructure and doing all it can to minimize collateral damage, particularly needless civilian losses in the former Soviet republic whose majority population is sympathetic to Russia. While the #RussianOligarchs are vile post-Soviet capitalists, the hypocrisy of the US media is revealing. By signing up, I agree to receive emails from The Intercept and to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. 2004 Fallujah ambush - Wikipedia Ghasson Mahmood was a 55-year-old civil engineer. The only way these men could be brought to justice was in the United States. Survivors and victims' relatives of a 2007 shooting in Iraq by Blackwater contractors meet with United States prosecutors in Baghdad in 2008. "We showed the world that we were going to hold people accountable," he says. "How are. That day changed my life forever. Trump pardons Blackwater contractors jailed for massacre of Iraq Nassar Hamza was 67 years old when he was shot and wounded in the arm. An Iraqi policeman went over to the car, possibly to help the passenger, but the vehicle kept moving and it looked to the guards as if the policeman was pushing the car towards the Blackwater TST. Blackwater Trial: What You Need to Know - NBC News Mohammed forced a doctor to look at Ali. 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. WaPo says, 'Investigators for the military and the FBI later described . When the first indictments were dismissed on New Years Eve in 2009, they were told that the prosecutions would continue. [54] He enlisted in 1999, and served in Bosnia with the 3rd Infantry Division. He was shot through the roof of his car as the Blackwater convoy drove past firing down into traffic. Defence lawyers argued their clients returned fire after being ambushed by Iraqi insurgents. [83], In September 2013, the charges against Ball were dropped. [36], On September 19, as a result of the incident, the United States temporarily suspended all land travel by U.S. diplomats and other civilian officials in Iraq outside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone. LONDON and BAGHDAD -- When news broke that Mohammed Kinani's son's killers, Blackwater private military contractors hired by the U.S. government in Baghdad, were pardoned Wednesday by President Trump, Kinani said it was like losing his 9-year-old boy all over again. The Blackwater guards included Nicholas Slatten, who was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder for his role in the 2007 Nisoor Square massacre, when he and other . 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.. He died in the hospital hallway surrounded by family as he was asking for water. [46] On September 21, CNN reported that Blackwater would resume normal operations the following day. Prince strongly criticized the way in which federal authorities had handled the investigation and disputed the claims that U.S. or Blackwater personnel were to blame for the shootings. The order confines most Americans to a 3.5 square miles (9.1km2) area in the center of the city so that they are unable to visit other areas without traveling in a helicopter. Their route home was through Nisour Square. They claimed they were fired on, but. [29] Several sources have stated that the explosion was caused by a mortar round, though this is not reflected in the State Department's incident report. [24] The driver of the Kia was shot once in the head by a Blackwater contractor and was killed. Trump Pardons Blackwater Contractors Who Killed Iraqis Witnesses described how the American men ambushed the civilians unprovoked, firing on Baghdad's Nisour Square with heavy gunfire and grenade launchers. Then-Vice President Joe Biden held a press conference to tell the citizens of Iraq that they would not be abandoned. The American judiciary is fair and equitable. Why did it happen? It wasnt unusual for regular U.S. Army convoys to stop traffic. Constellis did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Private Military Companies: Blackwater - Silent Professionals Says Guards Killed 14 Iraqis Without Cause", "Blackwater guards lose bid to appeal charges in Iraqi civilian shooting case", "U.S. troops in Iraq will need immunity: U.S. chief", "Jurors' Note Hints at Conviction in Blackwater Case", "Former Blackwater Guards Convicted in Iraq Shooting", "Shock And Dismay After Trump Pardons Blackwater Guards Who Killed 14 Iraqi Civilians", "Trump Pardons Two Russia Inquiry Figures and Blackwater Guards", "Trump pardon of Blackwater Iraq contractors violates international law - UN", "Iraqi Inquiry Says Shooting Was Unprovoked", "Blackwater guards fired unprovoked: Iraq police evidence", "Pentagon Dispatches Investigators to Iraq to Probe Private Security Contractors", "Joint Iraqi-U.S. review begins in wake of Blackwater firefight", "Blackwater faulted by U.S. military: report", "Iraq determined to rein in private security guards", "The Iraqi Account of the Killings [infographic]", "Former Blackwater Employee Sentenced to Life Imprisonment for Murder in 2007 Shooting at Nisur Square in Iraq", "US Lawyers for Blackwater Guards: 2007 Baghdad Shooting was Self-Defense", "From Errand to Fatal Shot to Hail of Fire to 17 Deaths", "Four Former Blackwater Employees Found Guilty of Charges in Fatal Nisur Square Shooting in Iraq", "Iraqi ministers back Blackwater shutdown - CNN.com", "Iraqi Report Says Blackwater Guards Fired First", "State Dept. Although the Pentagons military contractors have been known to be training and advising several brigades of neo-Nazis backed by Ukraines security forces in the Donbas region since 2014, Erik Prince along with his associates from several other private security firms providing military contractors to the US Department of Defense personally visited Kyiv early last month following the Russian troop build-up and met with security officials of the Zelensky regime, according to informed sources. Instead of returning the favor, however, the conceited leader of supposedly the worlds sole surviving superpower turned down the hand of friendship and even snubbed Putin. 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. No wonder Russia formally issued an ultimatum on Tuesday, March 1, that it would target the hub of covert warfare. Among the pardons made by President Trump this week, the pardon of four former guards for Blackwater has been regarded by some as particularly galling.

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