Iraq Dismayed by Blackwater Dismissal
A federal judge cited repeated government missteps in dismissing all charges against five Blackwater Worldwide security guards accused of killing unarmed Iraqi civilians in a case that inflamed anti-American sentiment abroad.
U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina dismissed the case against the guards accused of the shooting in a crowded Baghdad intersection in 2007.
The shooting in busy Nisoor Square left 17 Iraqis dead. The Iraqi government wanted the guards to face trial in Iraq and officials there said they would closely watch how the U.S. judicial system handled the case.
Urbina said the prosecutors ignored the advice of senior Justice Department officials and built their case on sworn statements that had been given under a promise of immunity. Urbina said that violated the guards' constitutional rights. He dismissed the government's explanations as "contradictory, unbelievable and lacking in credibility."
"We're obviously disappointed by the decision," Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said. "We're still in the process of reviewing the opinion and considering our options."
Prosecutors can appeal the ruling.
Opinion: U.S. v. Slough, et al
Ali al-Dabagh, the Iraqi government spokesman, said in a statement Friday that the government was dismayed by the court's dismissal of the case.
"The Iraqi government regrets the decision," he said. "Investigations conducted by specialized Iraqi authorities confirmed unequivocally that the guards of Blackwater committed the crime of murder and broke the rules by using arms without the existence of any threat obliging them to use force."
"The Iraqi government will follow up its procedures strictly and firmly to pursue the criminals of the above named company and to preserve the rights of the Iraqi citizens who were victims or the families who suffered losses from this crime."
Dr. Haitham Ahmed, whose wife and son were killed in the shooting, said the decision casts doubt on the integrity of the entire U.S. justice system.
"If a judge ... dismissed the trial, that is ridiculous and the whole thing has been but a farce," Ahmed said. "The rights of our victims and the rights of the innocent people should not be wasted."
Dozens of Iraqis, including the estates of some of the victims allegedly killed by Blackwater employees, filed a separate lawsuit last year alleging that Blackwater employees engaged in indiscriminate killings and beatings. The civil case is still before a Virginia court.
Blackwater contractors had been hired to guard U.S. diplomats in Iraq. The guards said insurgents ambushed them in a traffic circle. Prosecutors said the men unleashed an unprovoked attack on civilians using machine guns and grenades.
The shooting led to the unraveling of the North Carolina-based company, which since has replaced its management and changed its name to Xe Services.
The five guards are Donald Ball, a former Marine from West Valley City, Utah; Dustin Heard, a former Marine from Knoxville, Tenn.; Evan Liberty, a former Marine from Rochester, N.H.; Nick Slatten, a former Army sergeant from Sparta, Tenn., and Paul Slough, an Army veteran from Keller, Texas.
Defense attorneys said the guards were thrilled by the ruling after more than two years of scrutiny.
"It's tremendously gratifying to see the court allow us to celebrate the new year the way it has," said attorney Bill Coffield, who represents Liberty. "It really invigorates your belief in our court system."
"It's indescribable," said Ball's attorney, Steven McCool. "It feels like the weight of the world has been lifted off his shoulders. Here's a guy that's a decorated war hero who we maintain should never have been charged in the first place."
The five guards had been charged with manslaughter and weapons violations. The charges carried mandatory 30-year prison terms.
Urbina's ruling does not resolve whether the shooting was proper. Rather, the 90-page opinion underscores some of the conflicting evidence in the case. Some Blackwater guards told prosecutors they were concerned about the shooting and offered to cooperate. Others said the convoy had been attacked. By the time the FBI began investigating, Nisoor Square had been picked clean of bullets that might have proven whether there had been a firefight or a massacre.
The Iraqi government has refused to grant Blackwater a license to continue operating in the country, prompting the State Department to refuse to renew its contracts with the company.
In a statement released by its president, Joseph Yorio, the company said it was happy to have the shooting behind it.
"Like the people they were protecting, our Xe professionals were working for a free, safe and democratic Iraq for the Iraqi people," Yorio said. "With this decision, we feel we can move forward and continue to assist the United States in its mission to help the people of Iraq and Afghanistan find a peaceful, democratic future."
The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. Raymond Odierno, declined to comment on the specifics of the case, but said, "I do worry about it, because clearly there were innocent people killed in that attack ... it is heart-wrenching."
The case against the five men fell apart because, after the shooting, the State Department ordered the guards to explain what happened. In exchange for those statements, the State Department promised the statements would not be used in a criminal case. Such limited immunity deals are common in police departments so officers involved in shootings cannot hold up internal investigations by refusing to cooperate.
The five guards told investigators they fired their weapons, an admission that was crucial because forensic evidence could not determine who had fired.
Because of the immunity deal, prosecutors had to build their case without those statements, a high legal hurdle that Urbina said the Justice Department failed to clear. Prosecutors read those statements, reviewed them in the investigation and used them to question witnesses and get search warrants, Urbina said. Key witnesses also reviewed the statements and the grand jury heard evidence that had been tainted by those statements, the judge said.
The Justice Department set up a process to avoid those problems, but Urbina said lead prosecutor Ken Kohl and others "purposefully flouted the advice" of senior Justice Department officials telling them not to use the statements.
It was unclear what the ruling means for a sixth Blackwater guard, Jeremy Ridgeway, who turned on his former colleagues and pleaded guilty to killing one Iraqi and wounding another. Had he gone to trial, the case against him would likely have fallen apart, but it's unclear whether Urbina will let him out of his plea deal.
By Associated Press Writer Matt Apuzzo; AP Writers Bushra Juhi and Rebecca Santana in Baghdad contributed to this report
AP U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina dismissed the case against the guards accused of the shooting in a crowded Baghdad intersection in 2007.
The shooting in busy Nisoor Square left 17 Iraqis dead. The Iraqi government wanted the guards to face trial in Iraq and officials there said they would closely watch how the U.S. judicial system handled the case.
Urbina said the prosecutors ignored the advice of senior Justice Department officials and built their case on sworn statements that had been given under a promise of immunity. Urbina said that violated the guards' constitutional rights. He dismissed the government's explanations as "contradictory, unbelievable and lacking in credibility."
"We're obviously disappointed by the decision," Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said. "We're still in the process of reviewing the opinion and considering our options."
Prosecutors can appeal the ruling.
Opinion: U.S. v. Slough, et al
Ali al-Dabagh, the Iraqi government spokesman, said in a statement Friday that the government was dismayed by the court's dismissal of the case.
"The Iraqi government regrets the decision," he said. "Investigations conducted by specialized Iraqi authorities confirmed unequivocally that the guards of Blackwater committed the crime of murder and broke the rules by using arms without the existence of any threat obliging them to use force."
"The Iraqi government will follow up its procedures strictly and firmly to pursue the criminals of the above named company and to preserve the rights of the Iraqi citizens who were victims or the families who suffered losses from this crime."
Dr. Haitham Ahmed, whose wife and son were killed in the shooting, said the decision casts doubt on the integrity of the entire U.S. justice system.
"If a judge ... dismissed the trial, that is ridiculous and the whole thing has been but a farce," Ahmed said. "The rights of our victims and the rights of the innocent people should not be wasted."
Dozens of Iraqis, including the estates of some of the victims allegedly killed by Blackwater employees, filed a separate lawsuit last year alleging that Blackwater employees engaged in indiscriminate killings and beatings. The civil case is still before a Virginia court.
Blackwater contractors had been hired to guard U.S. diplomats in Iraq. The guards said insurgents ambushed them in a traffic circle. Prosecutors said the men unleashed an unprovoked attack on civilians using machine guns and grenades.
The shooting led to the unraveling of the North Carolina-based company, which since has replaced its management and changed its name to Xe Services.
The five guards are Donald Ball, a former Marine from West Valley City, Utah; Dustin Heard, a former Marine from Knoxville, Tenn.; Evan Liberty, a former Marine from Rochester, N.H.; Nick Slatten, a former Army sergeant from Sparta, Tenn., and Paul Slough, an Army veteran from Keller, Texas.
Defense attorneys said the guards were thrilled by the ruling after more than two years of scrutiny.
"It's tremendously gratifying to see the court allow us to celebrate the new year the way it has," said attorney Bill Coffield, who represents Liberty. "It really invigorates your belief in our court system."
"It's indescribable," said Ball's attorney, Steven McCool. "It feels like the weight of the world has been lifted off his shoulders. Here's a guy that's a decorated war hero who we maintain should never have been charged in the first place."
The five guards had been charged with manslaughter and weapons violations. The charges carried mandatory 30-year prison terms.
Urbina's ruling does not resolve whether the shooting was proper. Rather, the 90-page opinion underscores some of the conflicting evidence in the case. Some Blackwater guards told prosecutors they were concerned about the shooting and offered to cooperate. Others said the convoy had been attacked. By the time the FBI began investigating, Nisoor Square had been picked clean of bullets that might have proven whether there had been a firefight or a massacre.
The Iraqi government has refused to grant Blackwater a license to continue operating in the country, prompting the State Department to refuse to renew its contracts with the company.
In a statement released by its president, Joseph Yorio, the company said it was happy to have the shooting behind it.
"Like the people they were protecting, our Xe professionals were working for a free, safe and democratic Iraq for the Iraqi people," Yorio said. "With this decision, we feel we can move forward and continue to assist the United States in its mission to help the people of Iraq and Afghanistan find a peaceful, democratic future."
The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. Raymond Odierno, declined to comment on the specifics of the case, but said, "I do worry about it, because clearly there were innocent people killed in that attack ... it is heart-wrenching."
The case against the five men fell apart because, after the shooting, the State Department ordered the guards to explain what happened. In exchange for those statements, the State Department promised the statements would not be used in a criminal case. Such limited immunity deals are common in police departments so officers involved in shootings cannot hold up internal investigations by refusing to cooperate.
The five guards told investigators they fired their weapons, an admission that was crucial because forensic evidence could not determine who had fired.
Because of the immunity deal, prosecutors had to build their case without those statements, a high legal hurdle that Urbina said the Justice Department failed to clear. Prosecutors read those statements, reviewed them in the investigation and used them to question witnesses and get search warrants, Urbina said. Key witnesses also reviewed the statements and the grand jury heard evidence that had been tainted by those statements, the judge said.
The Justice Department set up a process to avoid those problems, but Urbina said lead prosecutor Ken Kohl and others "purposefully flouted the advice" of senior Justice Department officials telling them not to use the statements.
It was unclear what the ruling means for a sixth Blackwater guard, Jeremy Ridgeway, who turned on his former colleagues and pleaded guilty to killing one Iraqi and wounding another. Had he gone to trial, the case against him would likely have fallen apart, but it's unclear whether Urbina will let him out of his plea deal.
By Associated Press Writer Matt Apuzzo; AP Writers Bushra Juhi and Rebecca Santana in Baghdad contributed to this report
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What about the rest of the world that is 'dismayed' at Iraq's inability to form a government, their inability to form a viable army, their inability to protect their own civilians from suicide bombers, their inability to realize they have a chance to have peace, but can't muster the guts to cash in on the opportunity. The whole world is dismayed that Iraqis are more intersted in cash then their own freedom. Tell Iraq to go f&%k themselves!
Our president Ronald Reagan sent us into Lebanon to help stop three warring factions of muslims. We were thanked by them blowing our LBT base to hell. Then we came home in 1984.
That was the first time this country tried to be the world police.
We should have acted then but did not.
So now after 911 Mr. Bush says OK you hit our home land now we fight.
So everyone calls this mess the Bush war. Fine.
Our military is spread so thin that they can not protect all the people we send over there to that nice place to try to make it terrorist free.
We use a company like Black Water. Almost all ex military personal.
The training is the best in the free world.
Do you believe they went over there just to fire there weapons into an un armed group of people. Or did they use the rules of engagement to defend the person in there care.
Did we then tie there bodies to a car or truck set it on fire and drive down the street to a cheering crowd.
No we did not but those nice people everyone feels so sorry for did with both our army and marine service people.
Sorry folks but war is hell. It is man made and ugly.
Mr. Bush is out of office now. We have a new man at the wheel.
You want us to leave this hell hole we find our self in then sound off and tell our goverment we want out.
Leave those nice people to once again kill each other and we just worry about the cost of a gallon of gas.
There it is now pick a side.
CAUSE AND EFFECT. WE WENT THERE. We INVADED. WE STARTED THE SHEEET--NOW YOU WANT TO POINT OUT THAT THEY DRUG OUR FACES IN THAT SHEET AND IT STUNK--WE STARTED THE SHEET ON THEIR HOME TURF WHAT DID YOU EXPECT? THEM TO GO BELLY UP AND THANK US FOR INVADING AND KILLING THEM?
The Iraquis of course will just see that Americans got away with a massacre. Exactly the thing you don't need in an already hostile country.
The evidence of wrongdoing by Blackwater at Nissoor Square is not in serious doubt by any familiar with the case. Seventeen Iraqi civilians died after attack by Blackwater personnel, and many witnesses are in accord about what happened.
Instead, the issue is prosecutorial sabotage of a straightforward government case by a US Department of Justice lead prosecutor named Ken Kohl.
As a GOP partisan, not a law enforcement professional, Kohl had no intention of bringing harm to Blackwater, a firm profiting heavily (a billion dollars) from Bush-era GOP patronage.
As a GOP partisan, Kohl's apparent gameplan was to lose the case brought by DOJ to let Blackwater-- a heavy GOP donor and personnally-linked with Bush-- walk free.
Kohl's flagrant disregard for senior-level legal counsel that he not base his case on Blackwater statements indicates his purpose was to compromise every reasonable legal strategy for success with which he is familiar.
In effect, Kohl was a "suicide bomber" for the GOP against the US government.
Kohl, a Bush-era appointee who served at the pleasure of the GOP, followed much the same strategy as those who, from all appearances, went out of their way to forfeit the case against former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.
Those who followed the Stevens case understand it was not the lack of evidence that set Stevens free, but the sum of egregious errors-- so flagrant as to seem deliberate-- by federal investigators and prosecution.
Such repeated acts of sabotage, putting GOP partisan gain over professional and civic duty, casts the GOP in an even darker light, after the GOP the previous year brought America the Wall Street recession.
By any view, widespread GOP sabotage of the machinery of government after GOP election defeat was unparalleled. For example, EPA had to work overtime to halt Bush plans, already in progress, to bulldoze the tops from Appalachian mountains. Clearly anticipating heavy losses at the polls, Bush staffers had created page after page of statutory obstructions to prevent normal operations of the next administration.
In case after case, eight years of Bush-era politics seriously compromised the integrity of the DOJ, The agency is riddled with those who place loyalty to the GOP over their own country, and the administration of justice.
A more anti-American plot could not be devised-- this from the party that once billed itself defender of American values.
We do, by the way of superior firepower ! Go to bed hippy
In a war, civilians casualty is a given, especially when the enemy is hiding behind and using them.
This kind of tragedy is what the enemy is hoping for, it's one of their tactics to sway their sympathizers to help them.
Kind of ironic isn't it? Your accusation of the enemy hiding behind civilians is justification of this illegal activity by Blackwater. Isn't that also what we are doing by sending "civilian contractors" vis a vis Blackwater to do the dirty, bloody work that 90% of our flag waving citizens don't have the stomach for?
We should hang our heads in shame over this outrage and practice our "American Values" and letting justice and liberty guide us to do what is right. Hold those accountable for war crimes and if those are so inclined to promote war, join our military. We need it!
Your outrage should be directed at the enemy who orchestrated this outcome.
War will always be dirty and bloody so what is your point?
Terrorist sympathizers should hang their head in shamed for encouraging the enemy to stepped up the civilian death counts.
Kind of ironic isn't it when it doesn't even crossed your mind about procecuting the enemy for war crimes. Using civilian as a human shield qualifies as one !!
This kind of tragedy is what the enemy is hoping for, it's one of their tactics to sway their sympathizers to help them.
---
"Our mercenaries"? Mercenary, by definition, means having no native loyalty. And Blackwater certainly proved that point.
Likewise, "stupid" is defined by a belief warlord power ever can replace the rule of law.
"Stupid" is also Bush insisting Iraq was liberated from Saddam's tyranny into promise of democracy.
In fact, Iraq was delivered into smoldering civil war, terror and corruption. They had all that under Saddam.
But Bush gave al Maliki a bonus-- a real sweetheart contract with foreign oil firms lusting after Iraqi oil reserves. All it took was weeks of behind-the-scenes arm twisting.
No, Iraqis cannot learn about either the rule of law or democracy by our recent example.
Iraq is not dismayed, merely released from its last, wistful trust in claims made by the Bush administration.