Iraq expands Blackwater investigation

Source: AP

BAGHDAD - Iraq's Interior Ministry has expanded its investigation into incidents involving Blackwater USA security guards amid the furor following a shooting that claimed at least 11 lives, a ministry spokesman said Saturday.

Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said the Moyock, N.C.-based company has been implicated in six other incidents over the past seven months, including a Feb. 7 shooting outside Iraqi state television in Baghdad in which three building guards were fatally shot.

Khalaf said other incidents include: a Sept. 9 shooting in front of Baghdad's municipal government building that killed five people and wounded 10; a Sept. 12 shooting that wounded five on the capital's Palestine Street; a Feb. 4 shooting near the Foreign Ministry, in which Iraqi journalist Hana al-Ameedi died; a May shooting near the Interior Ministry that claimed the life of a passer-by and a Feb. 14 incident in which Blackwater employees allegedly smashed windshields by throwing bottles of ice water at cars.

"These six cases will support the case against Blackwater, because they show that it has a criminal record," Khalaf told The Associated Press.

Blackwater USA spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell had no comment when reached by phone Saturday morning.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070922/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

they are told to leave and we say no...

So much for "democracy" in Iraq. War is Peace, y'all. :sarcasm:

Edited for stupid typo, although I kinda like the original:
"'Democracy' IS Iraq!"

And yet there we stay, forever, because the one Idiot who counts wills it. The American government is now disconnected from every aspect of reality. They are, literally, insane. And we're stuck here in the asylum with them in charge. Wonderful.

Idiot who counts:



Their new dictator's BW cold-blood murderers R different from their previous dictator's Republican Guards: they R Worse.
Yet, the whole unnecessary sham costs the US taxpayers $500,000 each minute...

Neocons to The Hague!

When the Iraqi's stand up, we tell them to sit the fuck down and shut the hell up.


Or . . .


We're employing terrorists over there so we don't need to employ them over here (yet).

"Iraqis doing the jobs congressional democrats won't do"

very nice.

on our boarder with Mexico... but what do you think the will spend the money on..??

Most of it is air.

...according to the toys for billionaire's article I just read.

as they treat all the other *terrorist* groups in Iraq....










Give them more weapons!

as soon as they've extorted enough cash, the findings will be benign

which now of course includes Iraq and its huge oil supply now given over to Dick and Hal$burten to play with and who just happens to own Blackwater or is that the C@rlisl Group...Oh wait they own both along with the whole world. Somebody better call their bosses at the Tr! L@tteral Commission, you know the New World Order for the rich folks, and straighten this whole thing out. Di@nne Fein$$$tein ("democrat" ha ha) is the perfect contact over there...she'll get this thing straightened out tut suit. -Names have been misspelled to protect the innocent-.

...and Blackwater is on video tape killing Iraqi citizens

<snip>
Blackwater Shootings on Videotape
09/22/2007 6:31 pm

Next weeks meeting between President ShitforBrains and Prime Minister Nouri al-Shitforbrains’s boy should be interesting. al-Maliki will probably be a good boy and do whatever Bush tells him to do.

Iraqi investigators have a videotape that shows Blackwater USA guards opened fire against civilians without provocation in an incident last week in which 11 people died, a senior Iraqi official said Saturday. He said the case had been referred to the Iraqi judiciary.

Iraq’s president, meanwhile, demanded that the Americans release an Iranian arrested this week on suspicion of smuggling weapons to Shiite militias. The demand adds new strains to U.S.-Iraqi relations only days before a meeting between President Bush and Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said Iraqi authorities had completed an investigation into the Sept. 20 shooting in Nisoor Square in western Baghdad and concluded that Blackwater guards were responsible for the deaths.
<MORE>

http://blueherald.com/

the minute they crank out a new one to spring, when needed:

Video shows U.S. guards shooting Iraqis, says official

Sep 22, 2007 08:36 PM
ROBERT H. REID
Associated Press

BAGHDAD–Iraqi investigators have a videotape that shows Blackwater USA guards opened fire against civilians without provocation in a shooting last week that left 11 people dead, a senior Iraqi official said Saturday. He said the case was referred to the Iraqi judiciary.

Iraq's president, meanwhile, demanded that the Americans release an Iranian arrested this week on suspicion of smuggling weapons to Shiite militias. The demand adds new strains to U.S.-Iraqi relations only days before a meeting between President Bush and Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Interior Ministry spokesperson Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said Iraqi authorities had completed an investigation into the Sept. 16 shooting in Nisoor Square in western Baghdad and concluded that Blackwater guards were responsible for the deaths.

He told The Associated Press that the conclusion was based on witness statements as well as videotape shot by cameras at the nearby headquarters of the national police command. He said eight people were killed at the scene and three of the 15 wounded died in hospitals.

More:
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/259486

Source: Washington Post


By Sudarsan Raghavan and Steve Fainaru
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, September 23, 2007; Page A18

BAGHDAD, Sept. 22 -- Senior Iraqi officials repeatedly complained to U.S. officials about Blackwater USA's alleged involvement in the deaths of numerous Iraqis, but the Americans took little action to regulate the private security firm until 11 Iraqis were shot dead last Sunday, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials.

Before that episode, U.S. officials were made aware in high-level meetings and formal memorandums of Blackwater's alleged transgressions. They included six violent incidents this year allegedly involving the North Carolina firm that left a total of 10 Iraqis dead, the officials said.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/22/AR2007092201424.html

y JAMES GLANZ and SABRINA TAVERNISE
Published: September 23, 2007

BAGHDAD, Sept. 22 — The Iraqi government said Saturday that it expects to refer criminal charges to its courts within days in connection with a shooting here by a private American security company, and the Interior Ministry gave new details of six other episodes it is investigating involving the company.

The state minister for national security affairs, Shirwan al-Waili, said the government had received little information from the American side in the early days of a joint investigation of the shooting, which involved the company Blackwater USA and left at least eight Iraqis dead. But he said that the Iraqi investigation was largely completed and that he believed the findings were definitive. “The shots fired on the Iraqis were unjustifiable,” he said. “It was harsh and horrible.”

Although Mr. Waili did not spell out what the investigative committee would recommend to the criminal court, a preliminary report of findings by the Interior Ministry, the National Security Ministry and the Defense Ministry stated that “the murder of citizens in cold blood in the Nisour area by Blackwater is considered a terrorist action against civilians just like any other terrorist operation.”

“The criminals will be referred to the Iraqi court system,” it said ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/world/middleeast/23blackwater.html?em&ex=1190606400&en=a5f8f56d54c292ba&ei=5087%0A

Do you really believe the Iraqi court system would actually attempt to prosecute them?

The message may not be directed at the US: it may be directed at the international community

die by it.

Blackwater is going to lose some employees - they better get used to it.

which BushCo. will do to ANYONE, though sooooo many on their side won't ever believe the next to be tossed could be THEM.

Source: The Virginian-Pilot

Iraqi investigators have a videotape that shows Blackwater USA guards opening fire against civilians without provocation in a shooting last week that left 11 people dead, a senior Iraqi official said Saturday.

. . .the conclusion was based on witness statements as well as videotape shot by cameras at the nearby headquarters of the national police command. He said eight people were killed at the scene and three of the 15 wounded died in hospitals.

Also Saturday, the Iraqi state minister for national security affairs said the government expects to refer criminal charges in the matter to the Iraqi courts within days. He said the government had received little information so far from the American side of the joint investigation.

Shirwan al-Waili, who has been closely involved in the Iraqi investigation, told The New York Times that the inquiry was largely completed, and he made it clear that he thought the findings were definitive. “The shots fired on the Iraqis were unjustifiable,” he said. “It was harsh and horrible.”

Although al-Waili did not spell out exactly what the investigative committee would recommend to the Iraqi criminal court, a preliminary report of findings by the Interior Ministry, National Security Ministry and Defense Ministry stated that “the murder of citizens in cold blood in the Nisour area by Blackwater is considered a terrorist action against civilians just like any other terrorist operations.”

Read more: http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=133106&ran=203399

"It is doubtful that foreign security contractors could be prosecuted under Iraqi law. A directive issued by U.S. occupation authorities in 2004 granted contractors, U.S. troops and many other foreign officials immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law.

Security contractors are also not subject to U.S. military law under which U.S. troopers face prosecution for killing or abusing Iraqis."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070923/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

Looks like they may just be immune from any prosecution. WTF!!!

Did we turn it over or not? This is a test of whether they really are a sovereign nation.

Depending on Cheney's mood, I think.

they may have a chance to prosecute.

For their constant everyday killing of innocent Iraqis, Blackwater is immune. But if they are labeled a terrorist organization it may be possible the immunity is broken.

Why the hell should anyone be immune from slaughtering innocent people? And that includes * and his fellow terrorists in the White House.

but DAYUM I hope this sticks. Blackwater needs to be exposed to the world for what it is- the New American Brownshirts. If there's one thing I worry about it's having them loosed upon our own nation. It cannot be allowed to happen.

I sure don't want their help during our next disaster.

Scary shit.

and evil sounding. What the hell does blackwater mean? Give me Whitewater over Blackwater any-day.

where their headquarters is based. But it sure suits them to a T doesn't it?

I will have to look up Blackwater, North Carolina.

just marking for later..this should be interesting

I'd wager the Blackwater employees involved will be flown out of Iraq or have already been flown out of Iraq.

Absolutely nothing will be done to the killers or the evil merc company. Suspended license my ass.

The merc company may be laying low for now (like that pig rove was doing), but soon they will be back to full scale operations.