Blackwater: Directed by Bill Rogers, Bill Schreiber, R. Douglas Zipperer. In August 2017, the D.C. Dec. 24, 2020 Mohammed Hafedh Abdulrazzaq Kinani with a photo of his 9-year-old son, Ali, who was killed by Blackwater. Khalaf's observations are backed up by official accounts, including leaked FBI findings, which concluded that at least 14 of the 17 shooting deaths were unjustified, and statements by military. [83], In September 2013, the charges against Ball were dropped. According to The Seattle Times, the lawsuit was reportedly settled in January 2010, and the U.S. Department of Justice decided not to seek an indictment against Moonen. Four guards fired on unarmed crowd in Baghdad in 2007, killing 14 and sparking outrage over use of private security in war zones. And in 80% of the cases, Blackwater guards were the ones firing first. FRANKLIN, Tenn., Aug. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- After thirteen years of political persecution and wrongful imprisonment, four U.S. veterans reunited last Christmas with their loyal families upon. The State Department has offered family members $10,000 for those killed in the Sept. 16 shootings -- an amount most consider insultingly low and have refused. But this convoy made an unexpected U-turn, drove the wrong way around the one-way square, stopped in the middle of it and started shooting. For a moment, it appeared as though Blackwater was going to be responsible for guarding the FBI agents, but the Bureau soon announced that the FBI agents would instead be guarded by "official personnel," rather than the very company that they were to be investigating. [28] TST 22 arrived at Nisour Square after Raven 23 had left; when TST 22 tried to withdraw, its route was blocked by Iraqi Army and Police vehicles. [24] The driver of the Kia was shot once in the head by a Blackwater contractor and was killed. Fifteen minutes later, the four-car convoy continued around the square and drove away. According to Vox, investigators Jean C. Richter and Donald Thomas Jr. discovered, among other issues, that migrant workers were being used as guards for the Blackwater compound and Blackwater guards had neglected to even give them beds to sleep on in their living quarters. ", Ahmed "was my first baby boy," he said. His brother then headed to the square, where he called Haythem to tell him he had found a charred white car with a license plate number written in the sand. [19] According to this account, the security team fired warning shots and then lethal fire at the Kia. The White House further stated that the Court of Appeals "ruled that additional evidence should have been presented at Mr Slatten's trial", and recently that prosecutors said "that the lead Iraqi investigator, who prosecutors relied heavily on to verify that there were no insurgent victims and to collect evidence, may have had ties to insurgent groups himself". "It was obviously excessive", a U.S. military official speaking on condition of anonymity told the Washington Post. [63] The suit was settled for an undisclosed sum in January 2010. The Blackwater team also claimed that some of the "aggressors" were dressed like Iraqi Police as well as civilians. He described how he crouched by the car, his right arm reaching inside, his head out and left arm up in the air, signaling to the convoy, his gun secure in its holster. Four young women tourists are hunted by ruthless woodsmen in the Florida Everglades. The incident was allegedly resolved only after another Blackwater contractor pointed his weapon at the man still firing and ordered him to stop. According to Reuters, in 2009, the State Department finally decided not to renew their contract with Blackwater in Iraq. (Iraqi police) or any of the local security forces fired back at them", the official continued. Stuck in heavy traffic on the opposite side of the square from Yarmouk road, he heard the shooting start. [44] Blackwater's operations on behalf of the U.S. Department of State and the CIA may be unaffected by license revocation. Assadi is now the sole breadwinner for the entire family. Associated Press WASHINGTON Four former Blackwater Worldwide security guards were convicted and immediately jailed Wednesday for their roles in a deadly 2007 shooting in Baghdad's Nisour Square. The Blackwater Shooting (2007) | The New York Times The New York Times 4.26M subscribers 1.1M views 8 years ago In this 2007 video, witnesses shed light on the killing of 17 Iraqis by American. The US government said in a memorandum filed after the sentencing: None of the victims was an insurgent, or posed any threat to the Raven 23 convoy. The memorandum also contained quotations from relatives of the dead, including Mohammad Kinani, whose nine-year-old son Ali was killed. As he slumped forward, his weight on the accelerator meant the car kept moving. [28] Nicholas Slatten was found guilty of first-degree murder, and Slough, Liberty and Heard were found guilty of voluntary and attempted manslaughter charges, and of using a machine gun to commit a violent crime. Sadly, this lawsuit may be the only way that the victims and their families receive remotely adequate compensation for their losses. The scene as the Blackwater convoy exited the square was also described to the group of lawyers by Hooby, a 32-year-old bank employee who was there on lunch break, returning from a failed attempt to buy a gift for a friend's newborn. Inspired by the true story of a crocodile attack in Australia's Northern Territory in December 2003, a . [21][75] In the memorandum opinion, Judge Urbina ruled the cases against Slough, Liberty, Heard, Ball, and Slatten had been improperly built on testimony given in exchange for immunity;[76] that evidence included statements the guards had been compelled to give to State Department investigators, and as these statements would have been self-incriminating, they could not be used as evidence under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The BBC reports that during Slatten's second trial in 2018, a mistrial was declared after the jury deliberated for 16 days. And after the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003, Blackwater won a $25 million contract to provide security for L. Paul Bremer, an American diplomat who led the transitional government following the invasion. However, according to Reuters, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit, claiming that "the U.S. government had recklessly violated the defendants' constitutional rights." Slatten faced a potential sentence of life in prison. Robert Young Pelton, a journalist who spent a month with Blackwater in Iraq, said that the guards "use[d] their machine guns like car horns," per Tidings Media. Unfortunately, Blackwater continued to operate in Iraq and the United States didn't cancel their contract. Initially, they worked providing training support to law enforcement and the justice department, but as Prince once stated, their "corporate goal [was] to do for the national security apparatus what FedEx did to the postal service." But such legislation is only as good as the oversight and enforcement that accompany it. I took Mr. Carroll's threat seriously. Blackwater despite numerous scandals, congressional investigations, FBI probes and documented killings of civilians in both Iraq and Afghanistan remained a central part of the Obama. However, according to "Blackwater" by Jeremy Scahill, the report was written by Darren Hanner, a Blackwater contractor. After the convictions, Blackwater which changed its name to Xe and then Academi after being sold said it was relieved that the justice system has completed its investigation into a tragedy that occurred at Nisour Square in 2007 and that any wrongdoing that was carried out has been addressed by our courts. However, there's never been any evidence that the Blackwater convoy took hostile fire. The Iraqi government and Iraqi police investigator Faris Saadi Abdul stated that the killings were unprovoked. Graphs are temporarily unavailable due to technical issues. (An unrelated bombing in a nearby market cut the shopping trip short.) [58] Nor is the US a signatory of the 1977 additional protocol to the 1949 Geneva Conventions in which Article 47 specifies that mercenaries are civilians who "take a direct part in the hostilities" and are "motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain". Tasks of the PMC are the support and training of military and police operations. Donald Trump has pardoned four security guards from the private military firm Blackwater who were serving jail sentences for killing 14 civilians including two children in Baghdad in 2007, a massacre that sparked an international outcry over the use of mercenaries in war. Interviews with victims and witnesses to the Sept. 16 shooting in Nissour Square bring to light more information about the problems caused by private contractors, which have effectively operated with impunity as they've brought violence and widespread ill will to US operations in Iraq. [80], On April 22, 2011, after closed-door testimony, a federal appeals-court panel revived the Justice Department's prosecution of the former Blackwater Worldwide guards by reinstating the manslaughter charges against the five men. A burnt car at the site where Blackwater guards opened fire on a crowd in Baghdad, Iraq, in 2007. [49], An Interior Ministry spokesman said Iraqi authorities had completed their investigation into the shooting and concluded that Blackwater guards were responsible for the deaths. Ex-Blackwater contractor sentenced to life in Iraq shootings By ASHRAF KHALIL August 14, 2019 WASHINGTON (AP) A former Blackwater security contractor was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for his role in the 2007 shooting of unarmed civilians in Iraq that left 14 people dead. The UN has sharply criticised President Donald Trump's decision to pardon four former Blackwater . The line of bullet holes in one side door is overshadowed by the two soccer-ball-size holes in the roof and driver's side door. [78] The opinion elaborated "the government failed to establish that the Iraqi witnesses it presented to the second grand jury were not in any way influenced by their previous exposure to the defendants' compelled statements. Despite the reports and investigations that determined that the use of force was unjustified, the Blackwater guards maintain that they'd "never take an innocent life. However, according to the Joint Audit of Blackwater Contract, the State Department offered little-to-no oversight of Blackwater's performance or cost, and often monthly invoices were "paid without adequate review of support documentation." [21]:116[22] The Blackwater commander, Jimmy Watson, had received an order to stand by and not leave the Green Zone upon reaching a checkpoint, but he made a "tactical decision" to advance to Nisour Square after waiting for a few minutes; upon informing the Blackwater Tactical Operations Center of this, he was ordered to return to the Green Zone. "All of a sudden, I felt pain in my right arm and left leg, opened the car door, and rolled out," said Hooby. Finally, around 5 p.m., he phoned his brother who worked at the hospital closest to Nissour Square. Director Pasha Patriki Writers Chad Law Tyler W. Konney Richard Switzer Stars Jean-Claude Van Damme Dolph Lundgren Al Sapienza See production, box office & company info Watch on Freevee Watch Free on Freevee More watch options