Although Blackwater denies using helicopters, "at least one [of] the car roofs had bullets through them.". Unfortunately, Blackwater continued to operate in Iraq and the United States didn't cancel their contract. 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. [19] According to this account, the security team fired warning shots and then lethal fire at the Kia. But according to ICD, some of the plaintiffs claimed that they were "forced to accept the settlement.". From Iraq to New Orleans, it's continued to pull in multimillion-dollar government contracts, mostly without accountability and in near secrecy.. With experience learned from a similar lawsuit filed two years ago against US contractors implicated in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison scandal, Burke O'Neil is perhaps the only law firm in the nation that could so quickly gather eyewitness and victim accounts, make the right legal arguments and begin the process of holding Blackwater to account. "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. 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. Black Water (2018) - Full Cast & Crew - IMDb In the last month of his term, U.S. President Donald Trump issued pardons to Slatten, Slough, Liberty, and Heard. 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. The numerals and letters matched the family's plate. In an instant, Ahmed was shot through the head. 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. We are taking fire from insurgents and Iraqi police. [21]:116, During opening arguments for a criminal trial held in 2014, defense lawyers representing former Blackwater members of Raven 23 argued the men felt the approaching Kia was a credible threat as a possible car bomb, and opened fire in self-defense. Blackwater Guards Found Guilty in 2007 Iraq Killings The State Department has offered family members $10,000 for those killed in the Sept. 16 shootings -- an amount most consider insultingly low and have refused. 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. courts. US: Close Legal Loopholes Allowing Contractors to Act with Impunity, Letter to US Rep. David Price (D-NC) in Support of Accountability for US Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, Ukraine: Izium Apartment Victims Need Justice, Indian Girls Alleged Rape and Murder Sparks Protests, Joint Statement: UAE Human Rights Record Ahead of COP28, Video: Violence and Rape by Zimbabwe Gov't Forces After Protests. Between 2004 and 2008, the State Department ended giving Blackwater more than $1 billion in contracts. [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. [88], On August 4, 2017, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned Slatten's murder conviction and ordered the other defendants to be re-sentenced to time already served. 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. This time, only four out of the five guards were charged, since the charges against Ball were dropped based on "prosecutorial discretion. [63], A U.S. judge's decision to dismiss all charges against Blackwater on January 1, 2010, sparked outrage in the Arab world. In the wake of the massacre in 2007, the Iraqi government banned Blackwater from working in the country and cancelled their license. [97], On December 22, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump granted full presidential pardons to Slatten, Slough, Liberty, and Heard. His brother's wife had delivered their first child, a daughter, just 20 days earlier. And it's estimated that at least one other person died from the second shooting incident. It remains unclear whether the team member mistook the civilians for insurgents. Blackwater in Baghdad: "It was a horror movie" - Human Rights Watch The Nisour Square massacreoccurred on September 16, 2007, when employees of BlackwaterSecurity 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. Trump pardons ex-campaign aide and disgraced Republican lawmakers, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. Ali Khalaf Salman, a traffic cop who was there, recounted seeing an American shoot Ahmed. As of 2021, their name is Academi after being taken over by an "unnamed group of private investors.". Other ways to share utility stunts A few token prosecutions of a handful of Blackwater employees will not be enough. According to Reuters, in 2009, the State Department finally decided not to renew their contract with Blackwater in Iraq. Iraqi police and Iraqi Army soldiers, mistaking the stun grenades for fragmentation grenades, opened fire at the Blackwater men, to which they responded. I don't know how to manage my life or care for my other two children without her. "Convoys are common," explained Khalaf. The Blackwater team also claimed that some of the "aggressors" were dressed like Iraqi Police as well as civilians. (L-r) Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty, Paul Slough, Nicholas Slatten. Prince's remarks were subsequently reported in the Washington Post.). They beat citizens and scorn them. And after the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003, Blackwater won a $25 million contract to provide security for L. Paul Bremer, an American diplomat who led the transitional government following the invasion. [25], A State Department spot report published the same day as the incident stated that eight to ten attackers opened fire on Raven 23 "from multiple nearby locations, with some aggressors dressed in civilian apparel and others in Iraqi police uniforms" after the convoy had entered Nisour Square,[26] starting at 12:08p.m.[27] The report added that another Blackwater Tactical Support Team (TST 22), who had escorted the officials and TST 4 back to the Green Zone, was redirected to support Raven 23. [7][8] U.N. experts said this "violated U.S. obligations under international law". 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. [34], In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, Blackwater's rights to conduct work in Iraq were temporarily suspended. [26][27] A U.S. Army convoy arrived at 12:39p.m., backed by air cover, to escort TST 22 back to the Green Zone. Sign up for the VE Newsletter https://www.vigilanceelite.com/newsletterErik Prince is an American businessman, former U.S. Navy SEAL officer,and . One such incident is the Blackwater massacre, also known as the Nisour Square massacre. US prosecutors are now reportedly trying to build a case against those involved in the Sept. 16 shootings. Salman ran over to the car and as he raised his hand to stop the shooting, the Blackwater guards responded by shooting Mohassin dead as she clung to her son, reports NPR. The incident led to at least five investigations and although the Blackwater guards repeatedly claimed that their actions were justified, several of them came to the opposite conclusion. However, according to The New York Times, the Iraqi government technically didn't have the legal authority to do so since the U.S.-led transitional government shielded security contractors from Iraqi laws, per CNN. [42] A spokesman stated that the ban would last for the duration of the investigation, and that it would not be permanent. That day changed my life forever. ", 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. Employees of Blackwater (now called Academi), which was contracted by the US government to provide security services in Iraq, shot at unarmed Iraqi civilians while escorting a US embassy convoy, killing 17 and leaving 20 injured. In August 2019, Slatten was once more sentenced to life in prison without parole, Al Jazeera reports. Ex-Blackwater contractor sentenced to life in Iraq shootings By ASHRAF KHALIL August 14, 2019 WASHINGTON (AP) A former Blackwater security contractor was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for his role in the 2007 shooting of unarmed civilians in Iraq that left 14 people dead. [14], On October 13, 2007, the FBI reported that it had concluded that at least 14 of the 17 Iraqis who died in the square had been killed without cause. The line of bullet holes in one side door is overshadowed by the two soccer-ball-size holes in the roof and driver's side door. 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. US pardons Blackwater guards: An 'affront to justice' - UN experts The Iraq government's own investigation found no evidence that the guards had been provoked or attacked, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's spokesperson called the shootings "deliberate murder.". Inspired by the true story of a crocodile attack in Australia's Northern Territory in December 2003, a . There needs to be a wholesale reform of the way security contractors and those that oversee their work do business. The Blackwater company itself wasn't charged. On YouTube.The Blackwater Shooting (2007) | The New York Times http://www.youtube.com/user/TheNewYorkTimes Blackwater Security Consulting, also known as Blackwater Worldwide, was founded in 1997 by Al Clark and Erik Prince as a private security firm. [95][96] Heard, Liberty, and Slough were resentenced on September 5, 2019 to terms approximately half the original 30-year periods. Blackwater mercenaries committed a massacre. [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. Nisour Square massacre - Wikipedia 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. In a panic, Hooby turned his car around and was leaving the area when the convoy approached from behind, throwing water bottles at the roof of his car. Blackwater was founded by ex-Navy SEAL Erik Prince in 1997 as a shooting range and military training ground in Moyock, North Carolina. And in 80% of the cases, Blackwater guards were the ones firing first. "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. He identified his wife of 20 years by a dental bridge. [40], On October 11, 2007, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed suit against Blackwater USA under the Alien Tort Claims Act on behalf of an injured Iraqi and the families of three of the seventeen Iraqis who were killed by Blackwater employees during the September 16, 2007, shooting incident. He ran three cars back to a white sedan to find a woman holding a young man slumped over and covered with blood. [63] The suit was settled for an undisclosed sum in January 2010. At least four other Iraqis have been reported killed in that incident on Sept. 9. One of the men I met in Istanbul wrote me after I returned home. Blackwater's owner, Erik Prince, recently said his company is spending $2 million a month in legal . The scene as the Blackwater convoy exited the square was also described to the group of lawyers by Hooby, a 32-year-old bank employee who was there on lunch break, returning from a failed attempt to buy a gift for a friend's newborn. 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 2004 Fallujah Blackwater incident occurred on March 31, 2004, when Iraqi insurgents attacked a convoy containing four American contractors from the private military company Blackwater USA who were conducting a delivery for food caterers ESS. [44] Blackwater's operations on behalf of the U.S. Department of State and the CIA may be unaffected by license revocation. [100] UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Marta Hurtado said that forgiveness "contributes to impunity and has the effect of encouraging others to commit such crimes in the future". The Blackwater Shooting (2007) | The New York Times - YouTube (An unrelated bombing in a nearby market cut the shopping trip short.) Haythem, the composed, articulate and powerfully calm father and husband of Ahmed and Mohasin, who died in the white car, expected them to pick him up at the health center where he worked that afternoon. His brother went to the emergency room, then to the morgue. [64], US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates testified before Congress that the Pentagon has sufficient legal authority to control its contractors, but that commanders lack sufficient "means and resources" to exercise adequate oversight.