Iraqi official says video shows Blackwater guards firing on civilians

by nvrgnbk 13 Replies latest jw friends

  • nvrgnbk
    nvrgnbk

    Iraqi official says video shows Blackwater guards firing on civilians

    • BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- 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 Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

    Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said Iraqi authorities had completed an investigation into Thursday's 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. Watch survivors describe the incident ยป

    Blackwater, which provides most of the security for U.S. diplomats and civilian officials in Iraq, has insisted that its guards came under fire from armed insurgents and shot back only to defend themselves.

    Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said Saturday that she knew nothing about the videotape and was contractually prohibited from discussing any details of the shooting.

    Khalaf also said the ministry was looking into six other fatal shootings involving the Moyock, North Carolina-based company, including a February 7 incident outside Iraqi state television in Baghdad in which three building guards were fatally shot.

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

    Khalaf said the report had been "sent to the judiciary," although he would not specify whether that amounted to filing of criminal charges. Under Iraqi law, an investigating judge reviews criminal complaints and decides whether there is enough evidence for a trial.

    Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Saturday that no decision had been taken whether to seek punishment for any Blackwater employees.

    "The necessary measures will be taken that will preserve the honor of the Iraqi people," he said in New York, where al-Maliki arrived Friday for the U.N. General Assembly session. "We have ongoing high-level meetings with the U.S. side about this issue."

    Al-Maliki is expected to raise the issue with Bush during a meeting Monday in New York.

    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. troops face prosecution for killing or abusing Iraqis.

    Iraqi officials said after the Nisoor Square shooting that they will press for amendments to the 2004 directive.

    A senior aide to al-Maliki said Friday that three of the Blackwater guards were Iraqis and could be subject to prosecution. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

    Shortly after Thursday's shooting, U.S. officials said they "understood" that there was a videotape of the Nisoor Square incident but refused to give more details. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to release information to the media.

    After the Nisoor Square shooting, the Interior Ministry banned Blackwater from operating in Iraq but rolled back after the U.S. agreed to a joint investigation. The company resumed guarding a reduced number of U.S. convoys on Friday.

    The al-Maliki aide said Friday that the Iraqis were pushing for an apology, compensation for victims or their families, and for the guards involved in the shooting to be held "accountable."

    Hadi al-Amri, a prominent Shiite lawmaker and al-Maliki ally, also said an admission of wrongdoing, an apology and compensation offered a way out of the dilemma.

    "They are always frightened, and that's why they shoot at civilians," al-Amri said. "If Blackwater gets to stay in Iraq, it will have to give guarantees about its conduct."

    Allegations against Blackwater have clouded relations between Iraq and the Americans at a time when the U.S. administration is seeking to contain calls in Congress for sharp reductions in the 160,000-strong U.S. military force.

    Adding to those strains, President Jalal Talabani demanded the immediate release of an Iranian official detained Thursday by U.S. forces in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah.

    The U.S. military said the unidentified Iranian was a member of the Quds force -- an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards accused of arming and training Shiite militias in Iraq.

    A statement issued Saturday by Talabani's office said the arrest was carried out without the prior knowledge or the cooperation of the Kurdish regional government.

    "This amounts to an insult and a violation of its rights and authority," said the statement, quoting a letter Talabani sent to Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker. Talabani, a Kurd, is one of Washington's most reliable partners in Iraq.

    Talabani said Iran had threatened to close the border with the Kurdish region if the official were not freed -- a serious blow to the economy in the president's political stronghold.

    "I want to express to you our dismay over the arrest by American forces of this official civilian Iranian guest," Talabani wrote to Petraeus and Crocker.

    Five Iranians said to be linked to the Quds force were arrested in the Kurdish city of Irbil and remain in U.S. custody.

    Also Saturday, the U.S. military announced the death of two more U.S. soldiers -- one of an unspecified non-combat related injury and another in a vehicle accident in Diyala province. With those deaths, at least 3,795 members of the U.S. military have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

    The U.S. said seven insurgents were killed and 12 were captured in a raid in Musayyib, 40 miles south of Baghdad. A U.S. statement said one of those captured is believed to know the whereabouts of senior al Qaeda in Iraq leaders.

    http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/09/22/iraq.blackwater.ap/index.html

  • changeling
    changeling

    What's up with all the deadly serious threads?

    Are you OK?

    changeling

  • nvrgnbk
    nvrgnbk

    Never better, my Empress.

    Sorry I just used my available thread on this...I hadn't noticed.

    Someone will get one going for you.

  • changeling
    changeling

    I hadn't noticed!!!!!! duh

    Thanks for pointing it out.

    changeling

  • Gregor
    Gregor

    Civilians? In a war where the enemy doesn't wear a uniform? Where women and children are used as suicide bombers? Interesting how some people never direct any criticism at such people. There seems to be an large class of Americans who despise their country even as they take for granted all its benefits.

  • nvrgnbk
    nvrgnbk

    Sorry we disagree on this, Gregor.

    What about posting this means I despise America?

  • return visitor
    return visitor
    Civilians? In a war where the enemy doesn't wear a uniform? Where women and children are used as suicide bombers? Interesting how some people never direct any criticism at such people. There seems to be an large class of Americans who despise their country even as they take for granted all its benefits.

    Gregor I have to agree with you.

    Nvrgnbk I don't think he was refering to you, and I certainly am not, but I do think that many in the media try to make the US out to be the bad guys. Why not report the good that the US is doing in Iraq. Why not report on those in Iraq who are glad we are not letting that country decline into all out civil war,

    Their are 100 stories pointing out the troubles with the US millitary for every 1 that commends what we are trying to do. I think the only explination is that the media is biased in their reporting.

    just my opinion,

    RV

  • nvrgnbk
    nvrgnbk

    Not the first time I hear that theory, RV.

    But I must ask, what motivates and maintains this media-wide conspiracy against America?

    Don't most journalists enter that field because by their nature they want the truth to be told?

    Besides, this story isn't about the US military per se.

    It's about a contractor that has spun out of control.

    To add another point, I feel that more than half the US population feels they were lied to from the very beginning of this invasion/occupation.

    That the suicide bombers and their supporters are mentally-deranged thanks to their religious beliefs is not to be contested by reasonable persons.

  • greendawn
    greendawn

    I can't understand what the Blackwater Guards are doing in Iraq isn't the American army enough to control the situation and who granted them permission to operate there?

  • nvrgnbk
    nvrgnbk
    isn't the American army enough to control the situation?

    No.

    That was known prior to the invasion.

    and who granted them permission to operate there?

    Ask Dick Cheney.

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