Have people seen the coverage of these Blackwater hearings?
The police officer, whom CNN is identifying only as Sarhan, said the Blackwater guards "seemed nervous" as they entered the square, throwing water bottles at the Iraqi police posted there and driving in the wrong direction. He said traffic police halted civilian traffic to clear the way for the Blackwater team.
Then, he said, the guards fired five or six shots in an apparent attempt to scare people away, but one of the rounds struck a car and killed a young man who was sitting next to his mother, a doctor.
Sarhan said he and an undercover Iraqi police officer ran to the car but they were unable to stop it from rolling forward toward the Blackwater convoy.
"I wanted to get his mother out, but could not because she was holding her son tight and did not want to let him go," Sarhan said. "They immediately opened heavy fire at us."
"Each of their four vehicles opened heavy fire in all directions, they shot and killed everyone in cars facing them and people standing on the street," Sarhan said.
The shooting lasted about 20 minutes, he said.
"When it was over we were looking around and about 15 cars had been destroyed, the bodies of the killed were strewn on the pavements and road."
Sarhan said no one ever fired at the Blackwater team.
"They became the terrorists, not attacked by the terrorists," he said.
"I saw parts of the woman's head flying in front of me, blow up and then her entire body was charred," he said. "What do you expect my reaction to be? Are they protecting the country? No. If I had a weapon I would have shot at them."
Mohammed Abdul Razzaq was driving into Nusoor Square with his sister, her three children and his 9-year-old son Ali at the same time the Blackwater team arrived.
"They gestured stop, so we all stopped," Razzaq said. "It's a secure area so we thought it will be the usual, we would stop for a bit as convoys pass. Shortly after that they opened heavy fire randomly at the cars with no exception."
"My son was sitting behind me," he said. "He was shot in the head and his brains were all over the back of the car."
Further, the evidence is that they are violating their rules of engagement routinely:
Records of the company and State Department show Blackwater's use of force in Iraq has been "frequent and extensive," the report says.
Though Blackwater is authorized to use force only defensively, "the vast majority of Blackwater weapons discharges are pre-emptive, with Blackwater forces firing first at a vehicle or suspicious individual prior to receiving any fire," the report states.
And then covering it up:
The senior Iraqi police officer said Blackwater team members were questioned by Iraqi police immediately after the incident. The contractors first said they opened fire in response to a mortar attack, the officer said. However, the contractors then changed their story at least twice during the 90 minutes they were held, the officer said.
Iraqi police released a video of the aftermath of the shooting which shows a car that had damage consistent with a rocket-propelled grenade.
The video shows what appears to be the spent casing of a rifle-fired grenade, and the embassy source said the Blackwater guards were armed with a rifle-fired M-203 grenade.
The embassy source said a New York Times story reporting investigators were told that at least one guard drew a weapon on a fellow guard who did not stop shooting after colleagues called for a cease-fire was "pretty much true."
These mercenaries (contractors is a pathetic euphemism) have been abusing their authority and killing civilians without provocation. Blackwater is war-profiteering and making things worse for the Americans and Iraqis. How about some jail time? Not just for the killers but for the CEO Erik Prince too.
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Why not just let the Iraqi courts handle the case?
Matt,
The Iraqi courts can't. A law passed by the Provisional Authority makes Blackwater immune from prosecution.
But from one perspective, I don't blame the mercenaries. They're doing the job they were hired to do (deliver various missions). They are going on a product by product sales deal.
I blame the folks who put them there, and decided that mercenaries would be preferable to a military that is focussed not just on fighting and winning battles, but on winning the war, too (which also requires winning hearts and minds, and all that).
I love how these "contractors" are getting paid double the amount of money our soldiers and generals are and yet doing what our military used to. yet we continue to approve founding the war with 190 billion being the latest. If you try to vote against the bill then your not supporting the troops, but is all the 190 going to the troups or the guns for hire over there?
So many people and agencies need to be held accountable here - the State Department has been covering for Blackwater as well.
Since the Iraqis can't prosecute those responsible for civilian deaths and those who cover for them, we need to do it.
I had a look through a few of the other stories in CNN's Black Water USA index.
I don't see how anyone can really support mercenary contractor's as becoming nothing more than another terrorist organization. These are people who are paid to carry guns, look tough and shot people for a corporate entity.
They don't even have the excuse of having a worthy cause.
The dollar isn't a worthy cause? I beg to differ -- killing people for money is a time honored profession.
Besides, person's got a mortgage payment to make. And this happens to carry out US foreign policy in a number of ways; by reducing the military footprint, by doing necessary things outside of normal accountability, etc. Had we outsourced Abu Graib as well, like we do prisons in the US, the outrage would be less -- it would be one bad apple, not the system at fault.
As taxpayers, we're paying them -- well, not directly, but a representative republic(?) is writing the check for us. Blackwater has received 1,000 million dollars out of the 600,000 millions we've already spent over yon. The news keeps pointing out that congress has an 11% approval rating, but they don't usually follow up with why.
That money churn that we keep dumping from the treasury to the military-industrial complex is what's keeping the US afloat right now; with the foreign trade deficit, death from above, below and generally all around, is our only reliable export.
If these people were to get unemployed, they'd be back, walking around at the mall, getting pissed and agitated at the next PTO meeting. Do you want these psychopaths roaming your neighborhood?
The contractors fight for money, and they cant spend money if they are dead. Is it any surprise they will shoot first, and not worry about determining if the locals are terrorists or innocent?
There is no accountability. They have total immunity under Iraqi law - a contractor (Lets not be picky about language: They fight for money, they are mercinaries) could, in theory, just shoot an Iraqi without provocation and there would be absolutly nothing the Iraqi government could do about it. The US military isn't very dedicated to justice either - they are just trying to save political face by denying anything happened.
Who is Blackwater in international law?Are not diplomats.Are not regular military forces.Many have diferent nacionalities.Is a american based company to give"security",but america authorities denies connection with them.Are in Irak a foreign country in where is oficially not in war against USA,but dies many people,like the Blackwater incident and nobody is responsible.This is madness with murders included.
I loved it that was great.
Look, I'm as opposed to these clowns as the next hard-core leftist pacifist, but lets not kid ourselves on the whole fighting for money thing. The number one reason people join the Army is that it's a well-paying job. The number two reason is the promise that they'll pay for college.
I love how these "contractors" are getting paid double the amount of money our soldiers
Uh, they get paid 5 times the amount (well the US "contractors", they also use contractors from other countries to help "defend" us.)
In international law, they are not. They exist in a sort of dead zone: They arn't part of any countries military, so no treaty is binding on them. They have a blanket exception under Iraqi law that allows them to literially get away with murder, but thats not international - its something that the Iraqi provisional government passed itsself. They arn't even subject to the oversight of the hireing country - they get to investigate themselves. So they arn't really accountable to anyone.
Think of them as security guards with a licence to kill on a whim.
This whole license to kill premise is pretty handy, but I think it would run contrary to human rights law (Part III Article 6).
And apparently, ideals that are evident on this side of the line:
don't apply to that side of the line.
Isn't it gratifying to see what we've become and what we've fostered; this nascent libertarian experiment in full bloom.
So where is the accountability from Condi Rice? She is the Secretary of State and Blackwater have a contract to the State Department.
Has anyone even asked her if she is satisfied with the performance of her mercenaries?