F.B.I. Says Guards murdered 14 Iraqis Without Cause
NewsToBeRead
F.B.I. Says Guards Killed 14 Iraqis Without Cause
WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 — Federal agents investigating the Sept. 16
episode in which Blackwater security personnel shot and killed 17
Iraqi civilians have found that at least 14 of the shootings were
unjustified and violated deadly-force rules in effect for security
contractors in Iraq, according to civilian and military officials
briefed on the case.
The F.B.I. investigation into the shootings in Baghdad is still under
way, but the findings, which indicate that the company’s employees
recklessly used lethal force, are already under review by the Justice
Department.
Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to seek indictments, and some
officials have expressed pessimism that adequate criminal laws exist
to enable them to charge any Blackwater employee with criminal
wrongdoing. Spokesmen for the Justice Department and the F.B.I.
declined to discuss the matter.
The case could be one of the first thorny issues to be decided by
Michael B. Mukasey, who was sworn in as attorney general last week. He
may be faced with a decision to turn down a prosecution on legal
grounds at a time when a furor has erupted in Congress about the
administration’s failure to hold security contractors accountable for
their misdeeds.
Representative David E. Price, a North Carolina Democrat who has
sponsored legislation to extend American criminal law to contractors
serving overseas, said the Justice Department must hold someone
accountable for the shootings.
“Just because there are deficiencies in the law, and there certainly
are,” Mr. Price said, “that can’t serve as an excuse for criminal
actions like this to be unpunished. I hope the new attorney general
makes this case a top priority. He needs to announce to the American
people and the world that we uphold the rule of law and we intend to
pursue this.”
Investigators have concluded that as many as five of the company’s
guards opened fire during the shootings, at least some with automatic
weapons. Investigators have focused on one guard, identified as
“turret gunner No. 3,” who fired a large number of rounds and was
responsible for several fatalities.
Investigators found no evidence to support assertions by Blackwater
employees that they were fired upon by Iraqi civilians. That finding
sharply contradicts initial assertions by Blackwater officials, who
said that company employees fired in self-defense and that three
company vehicles were damaged by gunfire.
Government officials said the shooting occurred when security guards
fired in response to gunfire by other members of their unit in the
mistaken belief that they were under attack. One official said, “I
wouldn’t call it a massacre, but to say it was unwarranted is an
understatement.”
Among the 17 killings, three may have been justified under rules that
allow lethal force to be used in response to an imminent threat, the
F.B.I. agents have concluded. They concluded that Blackwater guards
might have perceived a threat when they opened fire on a white Kia
sedan that moved toward Nisour Square after traffic had been stopped
for a Blackwater convoy of four armored vehicles.
Two people were killed in the car, Ahmed Haithem Ahmed and his mother,
Mohassin, a physician. Relatives said they were on a family errand and
posed no threat to the Blackwater convoy.
Investigators said Blackwater guards might have felt endangered by a
third, and unidentified, Iraqi who was killed nearby. But the
investigators determined that the subsequent shootings of 14 Iraqis,
some of whom were shot while fleeing the scene, were unprovoked.
Under the firearms policy governing all State Department employees and
contractors, lethal force may be used “only in response to an imminent
threat of deadly force or serious physical injury against the
individual, those under the protection of the individual or other
individuals.”
A separate military review of the Sept. 16 shootings concluded that
all of the killings were unjustified and potentially criminal. One of
the military investigators said the F.B.I. was being generous to
Blackwater in characterizing any of the killings as justifiable.
Anne E. Tyrrell, a Blackwater spokeswoman, said she would have no
comment until the F.B.I. released its findings.
Although investigators are confident of their overall findings, they
have been frustrated by problems with evidence that hampered their
inquiry. Investigators who arrived more than two weeks after the
shooting could not reconstruct the crime scene, a routine step in
shooting inquiries in the United States.
Even the total number of fatalities remains uncertain because of the
difficulty of piecing together what happened in a chaotic half-hour in
a busy square. Moreover, investigators could not rely on videotapes or
photographs of the scene, because they were unsure whether bodies or
vehicles might have been moved.
Bodies of a number of victims could not be recovered. Metal shell
casings recovered from the intersection could not be definitively tied
to the shootings because, as one official described it, “The city is
littered with brass.”
In addition, investigators did not have access to statements taken
from Blackwater employees, who had given statements to State
Department investigators on the condition that their statements would
not be used in any criminal investigation like the one being conducted
by the F.B.I.
An earlier case involving Blackwater points to the difficulty the
Department of Justice may be facing in deciding whether and how to
bring charges in relation to the Sept. 16 shootings. A Blackwater
guard, Andrew J. Moonen, is the sole suspect in the shooting on Dec.
24 of a bodyguard to an Iraqi vice president.
Investigators have statements by witnesses, forensic evidence, the
weapon involved and a detailed chronology of the events drawn up by
military personnel and contractor employees.
But nearly 11 months later, no charges have been brought, and
officials said a number of theories had been debated among prosecutors
in Washington and Seattle without a resolution of how to proceed in
the case.
Mr. Moonen’s lawyer, Stewart P. Riley of Seattle, said he had had no
discussions about the case with federal prosecutors.
Some lawmakers and legal scholars said the Sept. 16 case dramatized
the need to clarify the law governing private armed contractors in a
war zone. Workers under contract to the Defense Department are subject
to the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, or MEJA, but many,
including top State Department officials, contend that the law does
not apply to companies like Blackwater that work under contract to
other government agencies, including the State Department.
Representative Price’s bill would extend the MEJA legislation to all
contractors operating in war zones. The bill passed the house 389 to
30 last month and is now before the Senate.
He said it cannot be applied retroactively to the Sept. 16 case, but
he said that the guards who killed the Iraqis must be brought to
justice, under the War Crimes Act or some other law.
annika1980
>
> WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 -- Federal agents investigating the Sept. 16
> episode in which Blackwater security personnel shot and killed 17
> Iraqi civilians have found that at least 14 of the shootings were
> unjustified and violated deadly-force rules in effect for security
> contractors in Iraq, according to civilian and military officials
> briefed on the case.
If the NFL Commish was handling the case those Blackwater guys would
be made to sit out the next 8 killings....unless they were on the
Bengals. If they were on the Titans they'd have to sit out a full
killing season.
Now if Bud Selig was handling the punishment, they'd only be fined a
few bullets.
David Singh
"annika1980" <annik...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:8a87d5b3-c276-4293...@d61g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
Who cares if blackwater security personnel from America murders a few muslim
terrorists ?
America rules the world.
George Bush kills islamic terrorists like you to keep America and the
world safe. I hope George Bush becomes president of the free world a third
time.
MOS
> Who cares if blackwater security personnel from America murders a few muslim
> terrorists ?
>
> America rules the world.
>
> George Bush kills islamic terrorists like you to keep America and the
> world safe. I hope George Bush becomes president of the free world a third
> time.
>
>
Your low IQ is showing.
MOS
David Singh
You honestly replied to me? I'm an illiterate pathetic troll, nearly
everyone with usenet access has kill-filed me. Heard of CricketLeague,
NewsToBeRead, george bush jr, ivar, etc? I have so many aliases, each
more pathetic than the last.
I'm more than a racist bigot, I hate anyone who isn't a US-loving sardar
with an IQ comparable with that of a monkey past its prime. You're a
fucking idiot to reply to me, LOL!
David Singh
David Singh
"David Singh" <DavidSingh99...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:fhp8dj$nig$5...@aioe.org...
David Singh's Imposter,
CricketLeague doesnt like Bush, I love George Bush. Hence I can't be
CricketLeague and you are a racist terrorist troll.
George Bush kills islamic terrorists to keep America and the
world safe. I hope George Bush will become president of the free
world a third time to kill the remaining muslim terrorists and racists
lilke you.
David Singh
William A. T. Clark
"David Singh" <DavidSingh99...@yahoo.com> wrote:
*PLONK*
William Clark