Security Guards Feared Suicide Attack
Australian Firm Confirms Its Guards Involved In Shootings That Killed 2 Iraqi Women
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An Iraqi woman looks inside a blood stained car of two women, allegedly shot dead by private security guards in central Baghdad on Oct. 9, 2007. (ALI YUSSEF/AFP/Getty Images)
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A woman and a child inspect a car with blood splattered on the door after two Christian Iraqi women were shot to death in central Karradah, Baghdad, Iraq, on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2007. (AP Photo)
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Iraqi pedestrians run moments after a car bomb exploded in Baghdad's central al-Khulani square during the hours of intense car traffic on Oct. 9, 2007. (ALI AL-SAADI/AFP/Getty Images)
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Plainclothes contractors working for Blackwater USA take part in a firefight as Iraqi demonstrators loyal to Muqtada Al Sadr attempt to advance on a facility being defended by U.S. and Spanish soldiers in Najaf on April 4, 2004. (AP Photo/Gervasio Sanchez)
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Weeping mourners, meanwhile, demanded justice at a funeral for Marou Awanis and Geneva Jalal, the two Armenian Christian women who died Tuesday in the second shooting of civilians involving a security firm linked to U.S. government-financed work in Iraq in less than a month.
Unity, which provides protection for USAID contractor RTI International, said the security team was "approached at speed by a white car" and used "graduated and escalated" warnings, including signs, strobe lights, hand signals and a flare to try to get it to stop.
"The vehicle did not heed these warnings and failed to halt," the company's chief operating officer Michael Priddin said in a statement. "Fearing a suicide attack, only then did the team use their weapons in a final attempt to stop the vehicle."
Priddin said the area where the shootings occurred in the central Baghdad district of Karradah had been subjected to suicide car bombings in recent weeks and the guards were on alert.
It also confirmed that two people had been killed in the shootings. "We deeply regret the loss of these lives," the statement said, adding that the company was cooperating with Iraqi authorities in the investigation into the incident.
Relatives and friends of the victims as well as the Iraqi government claimed the use of force against the car was excessive and said those responsible should be held accountable.
"What is the use of the word 'sorry?"' Nora Jalal, Awanis' daughter and a student at Baghdad's Technology University, cried.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said an initial site investigation showed the guards were wrong to use their weapons.
"The use of force in that incident was unjustifiable," he said. "We cannot say that the guards shot at random, but rather we would say that they used force in a situation that they should not have done this. The preliminary investigation has shown that there was no threat to the convoy."
Al-Dabbagh said the families would be invited to file a lawsuit against the company, but he did not elaborate.
The shootings occurred as outrage was still fresh over the killings of 17 Iraqi civilians allegedly at the hands of Blackwater USA as it was protecting American specialists working under USAID contracts on development projects in Iraq. The North Carolina-based company has said its guards were responding to an attack by armed insurgents.
An Iraqi investigation of the Blackwater shooting on Sept. 16 was ordered by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and called for the company to pay $8 million in compensation to the families of each of the 17 victims. The commission also said Blackwater guards had killed 21 other Iraqis since it began protecting American diplomats.
The Rev. Kivork Arshlian urged the government to punish those responsible despite the immunity that has generally been enjoyed by foreign security contractors in Iraq.
"This is a crime against humanity in general and against Iraqis in particular. Many other people were killed in a similar way," he said. "We call upon the government to put an end to these killings."
"This security company should leave the country. Those who committed this crime should be punished because they claimed the lives of two people," he added. "We do not want a trial in Australia, which we would know nothing about."
Arshlian celebrated the funeral Mass, which was held at the Virgin Mary Church. Awanis' three daughters cried and other female relatives wailed over the caskets, adorned only with a golden cross.
In other developments:
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 109 CommentsPosted by s1ckd09
If the house you were building was on someone else''''s land, then yes it is your fault.
Posted by brianbwb at 03:15 AM : Oct 11, 2007
So are you saying the security guards did nothing wrong?
Posted by s1ckd09
If the house you were building was on someone else''s land, then yes it is your fault.
Posted by s1ckd09
They were under contract to USAID, not one of Australia''''s contracts. These thugs were hired by the cowboy''''s crew.
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Posted by firststate at 01:09 AM : Oct 11, 2007
No, the security company (Unity, which was Australian) was the ones who hired the security people. Unity was hired by RTI, and RTI was under contract with UASAIR. USAIR didn''t hire the security people. RTI didn''t hire the security people. Would you be responsible if you hired a contractor to build a house, and the contractor hired a roofer, the roofer hired his helpers, and one of those helpers killed someone? Would that be your fault?
And if you ran up on a convoy you didn''t know was around the corner? Oops, this is war, you''re dead. Too bad.
I think you''re forgetting that you''re not the only one paying those taxes. I do too. The difference is I don''t mind paying and helping someone else out.
pfffffffft...there went another toad, akkk, it wasn''t a prince!
Posted by s1ckd09
They were under contract to USAID, not one of Australia''s contracts. These thugs were hired by the cowboy''s crew.
, Oh great wise one, just who the attacks coming from ???? The Sunni War Lords Bush has armed & funded that every one seemed to know except Bush that would continue to attack our troops, the Sheiites militias Bush put in power by invading & the Turk''s Bush funded for access to Iraq
Posted by robertkjjj at 12:44 AM : Oct 11, 2007,,,
Agreed. Not only that, anyone in these Security Forces situation under these circumstances after numerous escalated warnings would have shot the car up too trying to stop it! Its easy sitting behind a safe keyboard saying otherwise!
,,, How is New Yorker''''s booing relevent 2 nights ago ???? Guiliani is the GOP''''s top pick,, If he can''''t convince New Yorker''''s he''''s any good on fighting terrorists or leadership, Rudy doesn''''t stand a snowball''''s chance in hell
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Posted by j-whitman at 12:48 AM : Oct 11, 2007
Well, there you have it. All we have to do is put all the candidates in Yankee stadium and let them decide who is President. They are, after all, completely rational and a perfect representation (except for the lack of class) of the whole of America... you''re brilliant!
If you think Armenian genocide is cool, wait until you get a load of what Turkey has planned for northern Iraq. Of course, after the carnage, Bush will wring his hands in a show of crocodile tears, then make a deal with the Turkish occupiers to share the oil profits, 85%/15% in favor of the US.
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Posted by j-whitman at 12:45 AM : Oct 11, 2007
No, I don''t. Your point?
,,, How is New Yorker''s booing relevent 2 nights ago ???? Guiliani is the GOP''s top pick,, If he can''t convince New Yorker''s he''s any good on fighting terrorists or leadership, Rudy doesn''t stand a snowball''s chance in hell
+ report abuse
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you should replace the "you think they might" to "they are always"..attacks are constant in iraq..it is well documented..
Do you think these attacks are coming from soldiers wearing uniforms and dogtags?? do you think they come in tanks or humvees?? you best stop licking that texas toad and realize the nature of the situation.
trust me, thanks to those liberal democrats..I am already paying up the arse trying to fund thier social programs.
And by the way, those were Yankee fans... what do they know these days, other than early defeat and humiliation? :)
,,, How did Rudy do the other night at the Yankee Stadium ??? ---- New Yorker''''s remember him well,, They booed him not once, but twice, once during the 7th inning streatch during the singing of "Goc Bless America"
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Posted by j-whitman at 12:33 AM : Oct 11, 2007
And this is relevent...how???
FACTS? Did you say FACTS?
Based on the link you cited, BUSH CLAIMS he never said that despite two witnesses who claim otherwise.
Based on Bush''''s proven track record of pathological lying, I''''ll believe the two witnesses. They''''re more credible.
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Posted by tuckerndfw at 12:04 AM : Oct 11, 2007
Doesn''t it suck when your own source disputes what you say? And Mahmoud Abbas never claimed it was what Buch said...
"Soon after, the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz carried a Palestinian transcript of the meeting, containing a version of Mr Bush''s remarks. But the Palestinian delegation was reluctant publicly to acknowledge its authenticity."
Nabil Shaath: "President Bush said that God guided him in what he should do, and this guidance led him to go to Afghanistan to rid it of terrorism after 9/11 and led him to Iraq to fight tyranny," he said.
"We understood that he was illustrating [in his comments] his strong faith and his belief that this is what God wanted."
,,, How did Rudy do the other night at the Yankee Stadium ??? ---- New Yorker''s remember him well,, They booed him not once, but twice, once during the 7th inning streatch during the singing of "Goc Bless America"
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