Comments on: Blackwater Indictment Alleges Grisly Tale

Prosecutors Say Guards Used Machine Guns, Grenade Launchers On 34 Unarmed Civilians, Including Women And Children

[missingamerica]

Huh...mercs.

I know one thing: Since Blackwater said they did no wrong, if they are convicted and imprisoned, then Blackwater should be paying their salaries every single day they sit in jail.

[heidimt]

Blackwater employees are not soldiers. They are not brave young men and women. They are mercenaries. They are in it for the money. If they were doing this job out of some patriotic notion......they would sign up for our armed services. I have a friend whose older brother is employed by Blackwater. The money he is paid is obscene. He is in it for the money and for nothing else. They are as someone else said "mercenary scum".

[vet2wars]

If the law is murky here and the crimes were committed in Iraq, against Iraqi citizens, then send the perps back to the country where the crimes were committed to be tried by their peers in that country. KISS (Keep it simple Stupid). If not there, then to the World Court where "war crimes" are tried.

[tnz650-2009]

If justice was delivered thru popular vote, we''d all be worse off than anything that 100 Blackwaters and 100 Bush''s could generate. You people who are so willing to write these guys off as guilty, in a situation you know NOTHING about, except what has been reported in the newspapers, really is more frightening than the corruption the Chaney-ites are responsible for. As far as I''m concerned, you people are no better than they are.

[maggg1]

I knew this would happen, it was inevitable, they had carte blanche!

[rjs1955]

Now, after first resisting in my own mind the idea of trying these ba$****$ in Salt Lake City because it is a ruse to try and get a more lenient jury... I think I now favor the idea of a SLC trial. You see, what a wonderful statement it will be on the true nature of a predominantly Mormon society in Utah that these ruthless contract killers might actually get a better deal there. OOOOOOOhhhh how Christian that would be, to let the world know that in Utah you can get a lenient sentence... or maybe get off scott free, for crimes like this.... It would be sort of like a bunch of scoundrels trying to hole up in the Vatican, believing they''d get a better deal there in a trial than in Sweden or Japan or somewhere. Then the world would howl that the Catholics were up to some kind of no-good.

OK Church of JC of LDS, do you want this to be the legacy of this Blackwater mess... that these revolting thugs got anything but Thou Shalt Not Kill from the State of Utah??????

[texbestest]

As a former Marine, I can understand what happened, but this does not excuse the irresponsible use of force. Clearly the person in charge of this guard group lost control. As one of the earlier posters stated I was not there, but the volume of noncombatants killed shows unacceptable excess in the use of force.

As to the question of trusting the testimony of Iraqis, I trust them as much as I trust the representatives of Blackwater and the US Government. These have lied to the American public enough that their credibility is quite low.

[seriously121]

It''s so unfortunate. I say hold on to them until after 1/20 and charge them along with the Bush Admin on war crimes.

[matrixrx2003]

President Bush will Pardon Them !

[tnz650-2009]

I detest the Bush administration and believe that a democracy shouldn''t be using hired mercenaries to do our fighting in war zones. Having said that, I can''t believe the willingness of many posters to write off these 5 men as "Mercenary scum." First of all, WERE YOU THERE? Do you honestly belive that, for no reason at all, 5 men just opened fire on a crowd with women and children? Are you so willing to believe Iraqui citizens, living in an occupied war zone, that the shooting was unprovoked? It doesn''t really matter because I believe this is nothing more than a show trial. They will be aquitted, no lessons will be learned and we''ll continue to do stupid and horrendous things, all for nothing more than the almighty dollar.

[impeach___w]

Yes this is awuful but you can blame bush and Rummy directly. These contractor guys are not accountable.

The justice dept. (again) has helped bushco lead our country astray.
They should re-read the fine print in the no-bid contract.

[biblethumpar]

If the law is murky as to wether they can be charged
for what happens overseas, a small suggestion would be to use use the Federal Marshalls offices to use
"Extraordinary Rendition"
and put them in guantanamo, hold them as "enemy combatants of the enemy" and never sharge them until
2 administations later,

[lucilioness]

INSURGENTS = ANYBODY WITHIN GUNSHOT RANGE...OLD PEOPLE, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN. AND BUSH COMFORTABLY TO A NEW HOME IN DALLAS. HOW CUTE IS THAT?

[grumpas]

These men are thugs who should be held accountable for their actions whether it''s against Iraqi''s or American citizen''s. They shouldn''t be tried in Utah either! Because those bible thumping, gun toting religious nuts in Utah would probably let them off! They have about as many moral''s as most Christians. Either the law applies to everyone or it''s worthless!

[lucilioness]

OPENING FIRE IN A CROWDED INTERSECTION WITHOUT PROVOCATION? ***!!!!

[brianp55]

Mercenary scum