Blackwater Contractors Indicted For Manslaughter, "Surrender" in Utah
| Mon Dec. 8, 2008 1:42 PM PST
The Justice Department has unsealed a 35-count indictment (.pdf) against five Blackwater contractors charged with the manslaughter of 17 Iraqis in a Baghdad traffic circle in September 2007. Those indicted, all former US soldiers and Marines, include: Donald Ball from West Valley City, Utah; Dustin Heard from Knoxville, Tenn.; Evan Liberty from Rochester, N.H.; Nick Slatten from Sparta, Tenn.; and Paul Slough, from Keller, Texas. All face up to 30 years in prison under an obscure law dealing with the use of machine guns in violent crimes that federal prosecutors have adapted for the case. A sixth Blackwater guard also involved in the shooting incident, Jeremy Ridgeway, took a plea deal (.pdf) offered by the Justice Department.
The unsealed documents offer a gritty, blow-by-blow account of what happened as "Raven 23," the Blackwater security convoy's radio call sign that day, entered Nisour Square and opened fire—either in self defense, as Blackwater has claimed, or "upon a sudden quarrel and heat of passion," as the indictment alleges.
The five Blackwater guards "surrendered" to authorities today in Salt Lake City, Utah, in hopes that a potential trial there would involve jurors more sympathetic to their case, reports NPR.
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Comments
Submitted by Jim Swanson (not verified) on Wed Dec. 10, 2008 3:16 PM PST.
James A. Swanson, Los Altos, CA
www.bushleagueofnations.com [For FREE download of entire book]
This smells like an Abu Ghraib-style whitewash and cover-up.
Lie and obstruct as long as you can, and when that fails, punish some grunts, while protecting higher-ups at all cost.
Although this criminal indictment of the Blackwater mercenaries needs to run its course, it is much more important that the investigation extend up the chain to Blackwater executives and the Bush regime.
There is a bigger picture, and it is ugly.
The presence of Blackwater and other mercenary armies in Iraq, together with the cancerous neocon worldview that put them there, are a key reason why the Bush regime lost its war on Iraq.
Private mercenary armies make it easy for American leaders to wage foolish and "fuelish" wars. Such armies and wars require only the wallet of the American people, not their heart and conscience.
Mercenaries are the antithesis of America's proud traditional military that is of, by, and for the American people.
When the Bush regime outsourced America's military, it outsourced American values, and it made our military effort much more corrupt and expensive.
Blackwater owns the world's largest private military base, which covers 11 square miles in North Carolina.
Erik Prince founded and personally financed Blackwater USA at age 27. He is a secretive multimillionaire rightwing Christianist whose family funded many Religious Right and GOP causes.
Prince's family recently gave several hundred thousand dollars to help pass Proposition 8 in California, an effort to abolish the constitutional right of same-sex marriage.
Prince is the poster child for what contractors should not be in America's war to win the hearts and minds of Muslims worldwide.
This and much more is discussed in, "The Bush League of Nations: The Coalition of the Unwilling, the Bullied and the Bribed ? the GOP's War on Iraq and America," by James A. Swanson (2008, CreateSpace Publishing, 448 pages).
See Chapter 7, "Private Military Contractors?Making a Killing in Iraq."
As a gift to patriots, my entire book can be downloaded for FREE at www.bushleagueofnations.com.
I ask for nothing, except that you perhaps use my book to help restore and build America.
I also recommend Jeremy Scahill's, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army."
The revolving door between Blackwater and the Bush regime is well greased. Blackwater's executives include controversial Joseph Schmitz, who resigned as Defense Department Inspector General in 2005 to join Prince's company.
The killing and mutilation of four Blackwater contractors in Fallujah in March 2005 immediately increased Blackwater's visibility.
Moving quickly to exploit the golden opportunity, Blackwater?just one day after the tragedy?hired Alexander Strategy Group, a lobbyist firm involved in the GOP's K Street Project.
By the end of the year, Blackwater was bragging about its 600% growth.
Blackwater is a big part of the problem, not the solution.
The mercenary armies in Iraq must be withdrawn and disbanded. This action is as important as withdrawing American troops.
The flow of funds to war profiteers must stop, and they and their enablers in the Bush regime must be investigated and held accountable.
Jim Swanson, Los Altos, CA
www.bushleagueofnations.com [for FREE download of entire book]
There are times in a war zone area where laying down a field of fire saves you and your comrads lives. If you have been in a hot zone you know. Even firecrackers scare the hell out of a soldier. These guys are trained for battle. Killing is not rite but a war zone is dangerous too. Don't spank soldiers for doing their job....
Submitted by jon h (not verified) on Wed Dec. 10, 2008 2:52 PM PST.
Blackwater has, since it's inception, always considered it's self above the law. They felt that they did not have to go by the rules of warfair, and they have proven it, time & time again. I'm very familiar with fields of fire, been there, done that. Most soldiers respect these rules, and 90% resent mercenary's.
Submitted by Jim Swanson (not verified) on Wed Dec. 10, 2008 3:16 PM PST.
James A. Swanson, Los Altos, CA
www.bushleagueofnations.com [For FREE download of entire book]
This smells like an Abu Ghraib-style whitewash and cover-up.
Lie and obstruct as long as you can, and when that fails, punish some grunts, while protecting higher-ups at all cost.
Although this criminal indictment of the Blackwater mercenaries needs to run its course, it is much more important that the investigation extend up the chain to Blackwater executives and the Bush regime.
There is a bigger picture, and it is ugly.
The presence of Blackwater and other mercenary armies in Iraq, together with the cancerous neocon worldview that put them there, are a key reason why the Bush regime lost its war on Iraq.
Private mercenary armies make it easy for American leaders to wage foolish and "fuelish" wars. Such armies and wars require only the wallet of the American people, not their heart and conscience.
Mercenaries are the antithesis of America's proud traditional military that is of, by, and for the American people.
When the Bush regime outsourced America's military, it outsourced American values, and it made our military effort much more corrupt and expensive.
Blackwater owns the world's largest private military base, which covers 11 square miles in North Carolina.
Erik Prince founded and personally financed Blackwater USA at age 27. He is a secretive multimillionaire rightwing Christianist whose family funded many Religious Right and GOP causes.
Prince's family recently gave several hundred thousand dollars to help pass Proposition 8 in California, an effort to abolish the constitutional right of same-sex marriage.
Prince is the poster child for what contractors should not be in America's war to win the hearts and minds of Muslims worldwide.
This and much more is discussed in, "The Bush League of Nations: The Coalition of the Unwilling, the Bullied and the Bribed the GOP's War on Iraq and America," by James A. Swanson (2008, CreateSpace Publishing, 448 pages).
See Chapter 7, "Private Military ContractorsMaking a Killing in Iraq."
As a gift to patriots, my entire book can be downloaded for FREE at www.bushleagueofnations.com.
I ask for nothing, except that you perhaps use my book to help restore and build America.
I also recommend Jeremy Scahill's, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army."
The revolving door between Blackwater and the Bush regime is well greased. Blackwater's executives include controversial Joseph Schmitz, who resigned as Defense Department Inspector General in 2005 to join Prince's company.
The killing and mutilation of four Blackwater contractors in Fallujah in March 2005 immediately increased Blackwater's visibility.
Moving quickly to exploit the golden opportunity, Blackwaterjust one day after the tragedyhired Alexander Strategy Group, a lobbyist firm involved in the GOP's K Street Project.
By the end of the year, Blackwater was bragging about its 600% growth.
Blackwater is a big part of the problem, not the solution.
The mercenary armies in Iraq must be withdrawn and disbanded. This action is as important as withdrawing American troops.
The flow of funds to war profiteers must stop, and they and their enablers in the Bush regime must be investigated and held accountable.
Jim Swanson, Los Altos, CA
www.bushleagueofnations.com [for FREE download of entire book]
Submitted by Anna Fowler (not verified) on Wed Dec. 10, 2008 4:11 PM PST.
Thank you Jim Swanson. The atrocities committed by Blackwater are many and did nothing but torture in demeaning and unjust punishment to innocent Iraqis. I have no respect for this administrations dealings with many companies who have reaked havoc in Iraq for Bush's cause to make this country a "democracy" which is only a cover-up for the real reason - OIL, as the Bushes are in the oil business with the BinLadens of Saudi Arabia in Kuwait, thus the Gulf War. The Bush family is a danger to America and Americans.
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