Nisour Square massacre

Last updated

Nisour Square massacre
Part of the Iraq War
LocationNisour Square, Baghdad, Iraq
Coordinates 33°18′08″N44°21′23″E / 33.30222°N 44.35639°E / 33.30222; 44.35639
DateSeptember 16, 2007 (2007-09-16)
12:00 pm (UTC+03:00)
Attack type
 Massacre
War crime
Deaths17
Injured20
Perpetrators Blackwater contractors
Convicted
  • Dustin Heard ( pardoned )
  • Evan Liberty (pardoned)
  • Nicholas Slatten (pardoned)
  • Paul Slough (pardoned)
  • Jeremy Ridgeway
Verdict Guilty
ConvictionsSlatten:
First-degree murder

Heard, Liberty, Slough:

Ridgeway: (1 count each)

SentenceSlatten:
Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole
Slough:
15 years in prison
Liberty:
14 years in prison
Heard:
12+1⁄2 years in prison
Ridgeway:
1 year and 1 day in prison

The Nisour Square massacre occurred on September 16, 2007, when employees of Blackwater Security Consulting (now Constellis), a private military company contracted by the United States government to provide security services in Iraq, shot at Iraqi civilians, killing 17 and injuring 20 in Nisour Square, Baghdad, while escorting a U.S. embassy convoy. [1] [2] [3] The killings outraged Iraqis and strained relations between Iraq and the United States. [4] In 2014, four Blackwater employees were tried [5] and convicted in U.S. federal court; one of murder, and the other three of manslaughter and firearms charges. [6] In 2020, all four convicted were pardoned by President Donald Trump. [7] [8] United Nations experts said the pardons "violate U.S. obligations under international law and more broadly undermine humanitarian law and human rights at a global level". [9]

Contents

Blackwater guards claimed that the convoy was ambushed and that they fired at the attackers in defense of the convoy. The Iraqi government and Iraqi police investigator Faris Saadi Abdul stated that the killings were unprovoked. [10] [11] The next day, Blackwater Worldwide's license to operate in Iraq was temporarily revoked. [12] The U.S. State Department has said that "innocent life was lost", [13] and according to The Washington Post , a military report appeared to corroborate "the Iraqi government's contention that Blackwater was at fault". [14] The Iraqi government vowed to punish Blackwater. [15] The incident sparked at least five investigations, including one from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. [16] The FBI investigation found that, of the 17 Iraqis killed by the guards, at least 14 were shot without cause. [17]

Incident

Nisour Square massacre
Invisible Square.svg
Invisible Square.svg
Mapscaleline.svg
75m
80yds
3
2
Sequence of events triggering the Nisour Square massacre [18] [19]
1
Blackwater 'Raven 23' convoy enters Nisour Square from the south via access road from Iraqi army base; individual vehicles take positions along the southern edge of the traffic circle to control entry.
2
Iraqi traffic officer halts northbound traffic into Nisour Square
3
Northbound Kia near the head of the line fails to stop; driver is shot and killed by 'Raven 23'. The Kia's passenger, Iraqi traffic officer, and fourteen more civilians in the column of northbound traffic subsequently are shot and killed.

Just before noon on September 16, 2007, a car bomb exploded near the Izdihar Compound where US and Iraqi officials were meeting, [20] : 547  and a 19-man Blackwater Tactical Support Team (TST) consisting of a convoy of four trucks, answering to the call sign "Raven 23", took up positions on the south side of Nisour Square to secure an evacuation route for the US officials and another Blackwater team providing security for them. [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. However, after "Raven 23" entered Nisour Square, Watson was ordered to "lock down the traffic circle to expedite the travel of [the other Blackwater team]". [23] : 32  Shortly after assuming their positions, "Raven 23" began firing on civilians in response to an approaching car, killing fourteen and wounding twenty more. [21] : 116 

During opening arguments for a criminal trial held in 2014, defense lawyers representing former Blackwater members of Raven 23 argued the men felt the approaching Kia was a credible threat as a possible car bomb, and opened fire in self-defense. Prosecutors argued the men did not face hostile gunfire when they began shooting, and continued to shoot despite the lack of threats. [24] The driver of the Kia was shot once in the head by a Blackwater contractor and was killed. The Kia continued to roll forward after the driver was killed, according to an eyewitness, and Raven 23 continued to fire on it, killing the passenger (the driver's mother); eventually, the Kia was struck by a grenade and was incinerated. [25]

A State Department spot report published the same day as the incident stated that eight to ten attackers opened fire on Raven 23 "from multiple nearby locations, with some aggressors dressed in civilian apparel and others in Iraqi police uniforms" after the convoy had entered Nisour Square, [26] starting at 12:08 p.m. [27] The report added that another Blackwater Tactical Support Team (TST 22), who had escorted the officials and TST 4 back to the Green Zone, was redirected to support Raven 23. Raven 23 "returned defensive fire" and withdrew from Nisour Square with one of its BearCat vehicles in tow. As Raven 23 was departing Nisour Square, several members continued to discharge their weapons, causing additional civilian deaths and injuries. [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. [26] [27] A U.S. Army convoy arrived at 12:39 p.m., backed by air cover, to escort TST 22 back to the Green Zone. [26] [29]

An Iraqi government account of the incident stated that as the convoy drew close to Nisour Square, a Kia sedan with a woman and her adult son in it was approaching the square from a distance, driving slowly on the wrong side of the road, and that the driver ignored a police officer's whistle to clear a path for the convoy. [19] According to this account, the security team fired warning shots and then lethal fire at the Kia. They then set off stun grenades to clear the scene. Iraqi police and Iraqi Army soldiers, mistaking the stun grenades for fragmentation grenades, opened fire at the Blackwater men, to which they responded. [18] [30] Iraqi investigators also alleged that Blackwater helicopters fired into the cars from the air, as at least one car had bullet holes in its roof; Blackwater has denied any of its aerial units discharged weapons. [25] [31]

The account by the Blackwater firm differed from the Iraqi government's account; Blackwater's account stated the driver of the Kia sedan had kept driving toward the convoy, ignoring verbal orders, hand signals, and water bottles thrown at the car, and continued to approach even when fired upon. An Iraqi policeman went over to the car, possibly to help the passenger, but the vehicle kept moving and it looked to the guards as if the policeman was pushing the car towards the Blackwater TST. In their view, this confirmed that they were under attack by a vehicle bomb, whereupon they fired at the car, killing both people in it as well as the Iraqi policeman. [32] In response to the guards' killing of the Iraqi policeman, other Iraqi police officers began to fire at the Blackwater men, who communicated to the State Department operations center that they were under attack. A State Department employee who was walking into the department's Baghdad operations center on the day of the incident heard a radio call from the convoy: "Contact, contact, contact! We are taking fire from insurgents and Iraqi police." [32] According to Blackwater vice-president Marty Strong, the convoy was hit with "a large explosive device" and "repeated small arms fire" which disabled a vehicle. [29] Several sources have stated that the explosion was caused by a mortar round, though this is not reflected in the State Department's incident report. [26] [27]

On September 27, 2007, The New York Times reported that during the chaotic incident at Nisour Square, one member of the Blackwater security team continued to fire on civilians despite urgent cease-fire calls from colleagues. It remains unclear whether the team member mistook the civilians for insurgents. The incident was allegedly resolved only after another Blackwater contractor pointed his weapon at the man still firing and ordered him to stop. [33]

Three Blackwater guards who witnessed the incident later said that they believed the shootings were unjustified. [34]

Immediate aftermath

Casualties [35] [28]

Killed:

  1. Ahmed Haithem Ahmed Al Rubia'y, 21
  2. Mahassin Mohssen Kadhum Al-Khazali, 44
  3. Osama Fadhil Abbas, 52
  4. Ali Mohammed Hafedh Abdul Razzaq, 9
  5. Mohamed Abbas Mahmoud, 47
  6. Qasim Mohamed Abbas Mahmoud, 11
  7. Sa'adi Ali Abbas Alkarkh, 52
  8. Mushtaq Karim Abd Al-Razzaq, 18
  9. Ghaniyah Hassan Ali, 55
  10. Ibrahim Abid Ayash, 77
  11. Hamoud Sa'eed Abttan, 33
  12. Uday Ismail Ibrahiem, 27
  13. Mahdi Sahib Nasir, 26
  14. Ali Khalil Abdul Hussein, 54

Wounded:

  1. Majed Salman Abdel Kareem Al-Gharbawi
  2. Jennan Hafidh Abid al-Razzaq
  3. Yasmin Abdul Kidr Salhe
  4. Mohanad Wadhnah
  5. Haydar Ahmad Rabie Hussain Al-Khafaji
  6. Hassan Jaber Salman
  7. Farid Walid Hasoun Al-Kasab
  8. Abdul Amir Raheem Jihan Yasser
  9. Wisam Raheem Fliah Hasan Al-Miri
  10. Talib Mutluk Diwan
  11. Adel Jaber Sham'ma Al-Jadiri
  12. Nasir Hamzah Latif Al-Rikabi
  13. Mahdi Abid Khider Abbas Al-Faraji
  14. Abdul Wahab Abdul Qadar Al-Qalamchi
  15. Bara Sadoon Ismail Al-Ani
  16. Sami Hawa Hamud Al-Sabahin
  17. Fawziyyah Aliwi Hassoon
  18. Ali Hadi Naji Al-Rubaie
  19. Alah Majeed Sghair Zaidi
  20. Jassim Mohammad Hashim

In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, Blackwater's rights to conduct work in Iraq were temporarily suspended. [36] Several Iraqi and American investigations have been conducted into the incident. [37] [38] The incident caused Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to call on the U.S. government to end its contract with Blackwater USA, [39] and for the Iraqi government to push for an apology, compensation for victims or their families and for the guards involved in the shooting to be held "accountable". [40] The US House passed a bill that would have made all private contractors working in Iraq and other combat zones subject to prosecution by U.S. courts, however, the Senate never voted on it. [41] [42]

License to operate in Iraq

On September 18, 2007, an Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman said Blackwater is "not allowed to operate anywhere in the Republic of Iraq". However, the company was allowed to continue to operate in Iraq until January 2009 when the U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement took effect. [43] A spokesman stated that the ban would last for the duration of the investigation, and that it would not be permanent. [29] The banning was described by P. W. Singer, an expert on the private military industry, as "inevitable", given the US government's reliance on and lack of oversight of the private military industry in Iraq. [44]

The Private Security Company Association of Iraq, in a document last updated on July 3, 2007, listed Blackwater as not having a license to operate in Iraq despite their attempts to apply for one. [45] Blackwater's operations on behalf of the U.S. Department of State and the CIA may be unaffected by license revocation. [46] Also, it is not clear whether the license revocation is permanent. [36]

On September 19, as a result of the incident, the United States temporarily suspended all land travel by U.S. diplomats and other civilian officials in Iraq outside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone. The order confines most Americans to a 3.5 square miles (9.1 km2) area in the center of the city so that they are unable to visit other areas without traveling in a helicopter. The order did not say when the suspension would expire. [47] On September 21, CNN reported that Blackwater would resume normal operations the following day. [37]

Blackwater, which had been operating in Iraq without an Iraqi government license, applied for one after the incident, but the application was rejected by Iraqi officials in January 2009. The Iraqi government ordered Blackwater to leave Iraq as soon as a joint Iraqi-U.S. committee finished drafting new guidelines on private contractors under the Iraqi-U.S. security agreement. On January 31, 2009, the U.S. State Department notified Blackwater that it would not be renewing its security contract with the company. [48]

Investigations

The U.S. State Department said it planned to investigate what it called a "terrible incident". [49] According to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice promised a "fair and transparent" investigation into the incident. The State Department announced an American-Iraqi joint commission to investigate both the shooting and the broader issue of employing private security contractors. The committee was co-chaired by Abd al Qadir, the Iraqi Minister of Defense, and Patricia A. Butenis, the Chargé d'affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. [37]

Henry Waxman, the chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which held hearings on the use of Private Security Contractors in February 2007, said his committee would hold hearings "to understand what has happened and the extent of the damage to U.S. security interests". [38] Waxman stated that "the controversy over Blackwater is an unfortunate demonstration of the perils of excessive reliance on private security contractors." [29]

On October 4, 2007, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced that it would be taking the lead in the investigation of the shooting incident. [50]

Findings

An Interior Ministry spokesman said Iraqi authorities had completed their investigation into the shooting and concluded that Blackwater guards were responsible for the deaths. U.S. military reports appear to corroborate the Iraqi government's contention that Blackwater was at fault in the incident. [14]

On October 2, 2007, the Democratic staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released a report stating that Blackwater USA guards had used deadly force weekly in Iraq and had inflicted "significant casualties and property damage". The report found that the guards fired their weapons 195 times from the beginning of 2005 through the second week of September 2005. The report further said that Blackwater had reported that its forces fired first in over 80 percent of the cases. [51]

On October 4, 2007, U.S. military reports indicated Blackwater's guards had opened fire without provocation and used excessive force. "It was obviously excessive", a U.S. military official speaking on condition of anonymity told the Washington Post . "The civilians that were fired upon, they didn't have any weapons to fire back at them. And none of the I.P. (Iraqi police) or any of the local security forces fired back at them", the official continued. The Blackwater guards appeared to have fired grenade launchers in addition to machine guns, according to the report. [14]

On October 13, 2007, the FBI reported that it had concluded that at least 14 of the 17 Iraqis who died in the square had been killed without cause. [19] The three justifiable killings were those of the two passengers in the white Kia sedan and an unidentified Iraqi nearby. [19] A Blackwater spokeswoman responded to the findings by saying Blackwater "supports the stringent accountability of the industry. If it is determined that one person was complicit in the wrongdoing, we would support accountability in that. The key people in this have not spoken with investigators." [52] [53] [54]

On January 19, 2008, The New York Times reported that the contractor responsible for many of the deaths in the engagement, previously known only as "turret gunner no. 3", is named Paul Slough . [55] He enlisted in 1999, and served in Bosnia with the 3rd Infantry Division. [55] He received an honorable discharge in 2002 and then enlisted in the Texas National Guard. [55] He served one tour in Iraq before being hired as a Personal Security Specialist in Iraq. [55]

Radio logs released in December 2008 seemed to affirm that the guards had been responding to an attack on September 16. The logs depicted "a hectic eight minutes in which the guards repeatedly reported incoming gunfire from insurgents and Iraqi police". [56]

On April 1, 2009, the Associated Press reported that forensic tests on bullets were inconclusive. None of the bullets the lab had available could be matched to the rifles used by the guards. [57]

On April 1, 2011, the Associated Press reported on Erik Prince's seven-hour testimony about what allegedly transpired. Prince strongly criticized the way in which federal authorities had handled the investigation and disputed the claims that U.S. or Blackwater personnel were to blame for the shootings. In his testimony, Prince noted that, "It seems the ballistics analysis was done to prove the guilt of the Americans, not to just try to identify what happened there." Erik Prince said that he didn't believe the FBI had fully investigated the sources of all the used bullets in Nisour Square, arguing that it would have been helpful if the defense had been in possession of a complete ballistics report. FBI scientists couldn't match bullets from the square to guns carried by the Blackwater guards and FBI investigators found foreign cartridge cases of a kind not used by U.S. or Blackwater personnel. As shootings in the square were not uncommon, it is unclear whether the shells were from the shooting in question or from other incidents. [58]

October 2007 United Nations report

In October 2007, the United Nations released a two-year study that stated that private contractors, although hired as "security guards", were performing military duties. The report found that the use of contractors such as Blackwater was a "new form of mercenary activity" and illegal under international law; however, the United States is not a signatory of the 1989 UN Mercenary Convention banning the use of mercenaries. [59] 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". [60] (The Protocol makes no distinction between defensive and offensive actions, but the U.S. does make such a distinction, in that it does not regard defensive actions by security guards to be combat.) [61]

Reactions from Iraqis

Baghdad resident Halim Mashkoor told AP Television News, "We see the security firms ... doing whatever they want in the streets. They beat citizens and scorn them. ... [I]f such a thing happened in America or Britain, would the American president or American citizens accept it?" [47] Hasan Jaber Salman, a lawyer who was one of the wounded, said that "no one did anything to provoke Blackwater" and that "as we turned back they opened fire at all cars from behind" [62] An Iraqi police officer who was directing traffic at the scene said Blackwater guards "became the terrorists" when they opened fire on civilians unprovoked, while a businessman said he wasn't seeking compensation but only "the truth" from the guards. [63] After a group of Iraqi ministers backed the Iraqi Interior Ministry's decision to shut down Blackwater USA's operations in Iraq, [29] Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called on the U.S. government to end its contract with Blackwater [39] and called on Blackwater to pay the families $8 million in compensation. [64]

A U.S. judge's decision to dismiss all charges against Blackwater on January 1, 2010, sparked outrage in the Arab world. [65]

Actions against Blackwater

US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates testified before Congress that the Pentagon has sufficient legal authority to control its contractors, but that commanders lack sufficient "means and resources" to exercise adequate oversight. [12] On October 4, 2007, the U.S. House passed a bill that would make all private contractors working in Iraq and other combat zones subject to the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act [66] and thus prosecution by U.S. courts. [41] Senate Democratic leaders said they planned to pass similar legislation as soon as possible. [41]

Richard J. Griffin, the Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security, who made key decisions regarding the department's oversight of private security contractor Blackwater USA, resigned in November 2007, after a critical review by the House Oversight Committee found that his office had failed to adequately supervise private contractors during the Blackwater Baghdad shootings. [67] Howard Krongard, who was appointed Inspector General of the U.S. State Department in 2005, [68] resigned in December 2007 after he was accused by the House Oversight Committee of improperly interfering with investigations into the Blackwater Baghdad shootings. [69] [70]

Court actions

On September 24, 2007, the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior announced it would file criminal charges against the Blackwater staff involved in the shooting, although it is unclear how some of them will be brought to trial. [37] A senior aide to al-Maliki said that three of the Blackwater guards were Iraqis and could be subject to prosecution. The aide also said that the Iraqi government was pushing for an apology, compensation for victims or their families and for the guards involved in the shooting to be held "accountable". [40]

On October 11, 2007, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed suit against Blackwater USA under the Alien Tort Claims Act on behalf of an injured Iraqi and the families of three of the seventeen Iraqis who were killed by Blackwater employees during the September 16, 2007, shooting incident. [64] The suit was settled for an undisclosed sum in January 2010. [71] A second civil lawsuit filed jointly by the families of six victims against Blackwater was settled on January 6, 2012, for an undisclosed sum. [72]

Criminal charges

In December 2008, the United States Department of Justice announced it was filing criminal charges against five of the Blackwater employees, and ordered them to surrender to the FBI. Five were charged with 14 counts of manslaughter, 20 counts of attempted manslaughter and a weapons violation: Donald Ball, a former Marine from West Valley City, Utah; Dustin Heard, a former Marine from Knoxville, Tennessee; Evan Liberty, a former Marine from Rochester, New Hampshire; Nicholas Slatten, a former army sergeant from Sparta, Tennessee, and Paul Slough, an army veteran from Keller, Texas. [73] A sixth Blackwater guard, Jeremy Ridgeway of California, struck a deal with prosecutors on December 4, 2008, and pleaded guilty to one count each of voluntary manslaughter, attempted manslaughter, and aiding and abetting, [73] [3] and agreed to testify against the other five men. [74]

The trial was set for early 2010, [75] but the charges were dismissed by United States District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Ricardo Urbina on December 31, 2009, who ruled that the Justice Department had mishandled evidence and violated the guards' constitutional rights. [21] [76] 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; [77] 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. [78] "Prosecutors should therefore have built their case against the men without them", a BBC report explained. [79] 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. This evidentiary use of tainted information constitutes yet another Kastigar violation." [21] Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki harshly criticized the dismissal. [80] Three weeks later, Vice President Joe Biden, who was overseeing U.S. policy in Iraq, promised Iraqi leaders the U.S. would appeal the dismissal of these charges. [81]

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. [82] A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found "systemic" errors in the district court's 2009 decision to dismiss charges against the five former Blackwater guards and added "We find that the district court's findings depend on an erroneous view of the law". [83] [20] On June 5, 2012, the US Supreme Court declined to review the Appeal Court ruling, allowing the trial to proceed. [84]

In September 2013, the charges against Ball were dropped. [3] [85] Prosecutors stated they reached their decision after an "assessment of the admissible evidence against him". [85]

Trials and convictions

The other four went on trial starting on June 17, 2014; [5] ten weeks of testimony and 28 days of jury deliberations resulted in convictions for all four men on October 22, 2014. [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. [6] [86] [87] Jurors sided with prosecutors' contention that the shooting was a criminal act, not a battlefield encounter gone wrong. Slatten faced a potential sentence of life in prison. The other three guards faced decades in prison; the weapons charges carried a minimum 30-year sentence under a law enacted during the 1990s cocaine epidemic. [6] [87] Bringing the weapons charges was disputed within the Justice Department, which initially opposed including them in the indictment. After it was added, defense attorneys contended a 30-year sentence would be too severe, since the law was intended to deter gang members from carrying automatic weapons. [88]

On April 13, 2015, federal district judge Royce C. Lamberth sentenced Slatten to life in prison, while the other three guards were sentenced to 30 years in prison each. [89]

On August 4, 2017, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned Slatten's murder conviction and ordered the other defendants to be re-sentenced to time already served. [90] [91] [92] The panel also recommended that Slatten undergo a re-trial on the grounds that it was unjustifiable to try him with his co-defendants, and that he should have been tried separately. [90] [91] [92] The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit's fractured per curiam decision first found that Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act authorized the prosecutions, over the partial dissent of Judge Janice Rogers Brown. [93] However, the court then found that the mandatory minimum sentences as applied to the defendants were unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishments, over the partial dissent of Judge Judith W. Rogers. [94]

On December 19, 2018, Slatten was found guilty of murder [95] and again was sentenced to life in prison on August 14, 2019. [96] [97] Heard, Liberty, and Slough were resentenced on September 5, 2019, to terms approximately half the original 30-year periods. [98]

Pardons

On December 22, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump granted full presidential pardons to Slatten, Slough, Liberty, and Heard. [8] [99] A White House statement said the men had a "long history of service to the nation" as veterans of the US Armed Forces, and that there was strong support for the pardons from the public and elected officials. 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". [100]

Clemency caused outrage among Iraqi citizens and family members of the victims. [101] UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Marta Hurtado said that forgiveness "contributes to impunity and has the effect of encouraging others to commit such crimes in the future". [102] [103] The Iraqi Foreign Ministry urged the United States to reconsider, declaring the pardons "did not take into account the seriousness of the crime committed". [104]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of the Iraq War</span> Sequence of events in the US invasion of Iraq

The following is a timeline of major events during the Iraq War, following the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Private military company</span> Company providing armed combat or security services

A private military company (PMC) or private military and security company (PMSC) is a private company providing armed combat or security services for financial gain. PMCs refer to their personnel as "security contractors" or "private military contractors".

Academi, formerly known as Blackwater and Blackwater Worldwide, is an American private military contractor founded on December 26, 1997, by former Navy SEAL officer Erik Prince. It was renamed Xe Services in 2009, and was again renamed to Academi in 2011, after it was acquired by a group of private investors. In 2014, Academi merged with Triple Canopy to form Constellis Holdings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camp Bucca</span> American detention facility in Iraq

Camp Bucca was a forward operating base that housed a theater internment facility maintained by the United States military in the vicinity of Umm Qasr, Iraq. After being taken over by the U.S. military in April 2003, it was renamed after Ronald Bucca, the only New York City fire marshal in history to be killed in the line of duty, during the 11 September 2001 attacks. The site where Camp Bucca was built had earlier housed the tallest structure in Iraq, a 492-meter-high TV mast.

Custer Battles, LLC was a defense contractor headquartered in Middletown, Rhode Island, with offices in McLean, Virginia. The company now appears to be out of business. At one time the company offered services that include security services, litigation support, global risk consulting, training and business intelligence, but had no background or track record in offering any of these services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haditha massacre</span> Killings committed by U.S. marines in 2005

The Haditha massacre was a series of killings on November 19, 2005, in which a group of United States marines killed 25 unarmed Iraqi civilians. The killings occurred in the city of Haditha in Iraq's western province of Al Anbar. Among the dead were men, women, elderly people and children as young as three years old, who were shot multiple times at close range. The massacre took place after an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded near a convoy, killing a lance corporal and severely injuring two other marines. In response the marines executed five men from a nearby taxicab and 19 others inside four nearby homes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erik Prince</span> American businessman and founder of Blackwater USA (born 1969)

Erik Dean Prince is an American businessman, investor, and former U.S. Navy SEAL officer, and the founder of the private military company Blackwater. He served as Blackwater's CEO until 2009 and as its chairman until its sale to a group of investors in 2010. Prince heads the private equity firm Frontier Resource Group and was chairman of the Hong Kong-listed Frontier Services Group until 2021. Prince is the son of engineer and businessman Edgar Prince, and the brother of former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Imposing Law</span> Operation through Baghdad

Operation Imposing Law, also known as Operation Law and Order, Operation Fardh al-Qanoon or Baghdad Security Plan (BSP), was a joint Coalition-Iraqi security plan conducted throughout Baghdad. Under the Surge plan developed in late 2006, Baghdad was to be divided into nine zones, with Iraqi and American soldiers working side by side to clear each sector of Shiite militias and Sunni insurgents and establish Joint Security Stations so that reconstruction programs could begin in safety. The U.S. military commander in Iraq, David Petraeus, went so far as to say Iraq would be "doomed" if this plan failed. Numerous members of Congress stated the plan was a critical period for the U.S. presence in Iraq.

Coalition Provisional Authority Order 17 stated that Iraqi laws do not hold over contractors.

Andrew J. Moonen is a former employee of Blackwater Security, accused by the Iraq government of murdering Raheem Khalif, a security guard of the Iraqi Vice-president, Adel Abdul Mahdi. Khalif died from three gunshot wounds. Moonen, originally from Kalispell, Montana, in the US, served previously in the 82nd Airborne Division of the United States Army; he received an honorable discharge. In the wake of the killing, the United States Department of State and Blackwater USA had attempted to keep his identity secret for security reasons. Currently, Moonen lives in Seattle, Washington. Responding to claims of company-wide negligence, Erik Prince, the company's founder, said “when we found knucklehead behavior, we fired them.”

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unity Resources Group</span>

Unity Resources Group is an American-owned private military and security consulting company headquartered in Los Angeles, USA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 Iraq spring fighting</span> Battles between the Mahdi Army and the Iraqi Army

The 2008 Iraq spring fighting was a series of clashes between the Mahdi Army and allies and the Iraqi Army supported by coalition forces, in southern Iraq and parts of Baghdad, that began with an Iraqi offensive in Basra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ricardo M. Urbina</span> American judge (1946–2024)

Ricardo Manuel Urbina was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The first Latino judge on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, he was noted for his rulings in cases regarding terrorism during the George W. Bush administration, as well as for his ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller, which was later reversed on appeal and by the United States Supreme Court.

<i>Abtan v. Blackwater</i>

Atban v. Blackwater, 611 F. Supp. 2d 1, was a lawsuit brought by the victims and families affected by the September 16, 2007 Blackwater Baghdad shootings against Blackwater Worldwide, a private military contractor since renamed Academi. The case was consolidated with Estate of Albazzaz, et al. v. Blackwater Lodge and Training Center, Inc. et al., and the consolidated case was ultimately settled confidentially out of court.

The Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA) is a law intended to place military contractors under U.S. law. The law was used to prosecute former Marine Corps Sgt. Jose Luis Nazario, Jr. for the killing of unarmed Iraqi detainees, though he was ultimately acquitted.

The Iraq War documents leak is the disclosure to WikiLeaks of 391,832 United States Army field reports, also called the Iraq War Logs, of the Iraq War from 2004 to 2009 and published on the Internet on 22 October 2010. The files record 66,081 civilian deaths out of 109,000 recorded deaths. The leak resulted in the Iraq Body Count (IBC) project adding 15,000 civilian deaths to their count, bringing their total to over 150,000, with roughly 80% of those civilians. It is the biggest leak in the military history of the United States, surpassing the Afghan War documents leak of 25 July 2010.

Susan L. Burke is an American lawyer noted for her work to reform the military system of prosecuting rape and assault and in representing plaintiffs suing the American military or military contractors, such as the Abtan v. Blackwater case. She represented former detainees of Abu Ghraib prison in a suit against interrogators and translators from CACI and Titan Corp. who were tasked with obtaining military intelligence from them during their detention. Her work was featured in the documentaries The Invisible War and Ghosts of Abu Ghraib. In 2015, the National Law Journal named Burke one of the top 75 female attorneys in the nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Triple Canopy</span> American security contractor

Triple Canopy, Inc., is an American private security company and private military company (PMC) that provides armed security, mission support, and risk management services to corporate and government clients. The firm was founded in May 2003 by United States Army Special Forces veterans, including former Delta Force operators. In June 2014, the firm merged with rival security contracting firm Academi, formerly Blackwater, to form Constellis Group, with Craig Nixon, the former CEO of Academi, becoming the CEO of Constellis Group, and training facilities being consolidated at the existing Academi training facility in North Carolina. It was staffed by, among others, a number of former Army Special Operations personnel, Green Berets, Rangers, SEALs, MARSOC Raiders, other special operations personnel, and several law enforcement officers. At the time of the merger, over 5,000 employees were working for Triple Canopy.

References

  1. ↑ Tavernise, Sabrina (September 18, 2007). "U.S. Contractor Banned by Iraq Over Shootings". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 27, 2018. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  2. ↑ Johnston, David; John M. Broder (November 14, 2007). "F.B.I. Says Guards Killed 14 Iraqis Without Cause". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 11, 2008. Retrieved November 30, 2007.
  3. 1 2 3 Devereaux, Ryan (June 5, 2012). "Blackwater guards lose bid to appeal charges in Iraqi civilian shooting case". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on December 4, 2013. Retrieved July 3, 2012.
  4. ↑ "U.S. troops in Iraq will need immunity: U.S. chief". Reuters. August 2, 2011. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2012.
  5. 1 2 Apuzzo, Matt (October 1, 2014). "Jurors' Note Hints at Conviction in Blackwater Case". The New York Times . Archived from the original on October 27, 2014. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 Apuzzo, Matt (October 22, 2014). "Former Blackwater Guards Convicted in Iraq Shooting". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 1, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  7. ↑ Wamsley, Laurel (December 23, 2020). "Shock And Dismay After Trump Pardons Blackwater Guards Who Killed 14 Iraqi Civilians". NPR. Retrieved January 11, 2023.
  8. 1 2 Haberman, Maggie; Schmidt, Michael S. (December 23, 2020). "Trump Pardons Two Russia Inquiry Figures and Blackwater Guards". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  9. ↑ "Trump pardon of Blackwater Iraq contractors violates international law - UN". Reuters. December 30, 2020. Retrieved January 11, 2023.
  10. ↑ Von Zielbauer, Paul (October 7, 2007). "Iraqi Inquiry Says Shooting Was Unprovoked". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 5, 2015. Retrieved July 3, 2012.
  11. ↑ "Blackwater guards fired unprovoked: Iraq police evidence". Agence France-Presse. Archived from the original on March 25, 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2012.
  12. 1 2 "Pentagon Dispatches Investigators to Iraq to Probe Private Security Contractors". Fox News. September 26, 2007. Archived from the original on November 2, 2007. Retrieved September 29, 2007.
  13. ↑ "Joint Iraqi-U.S. review begins in wake of Blackwater firefight". CNN. October 8, 2007. Archived from the original on October 12, 2007. Retrieved October 8, 2007.
  14. 1 2 3 "Blackwater faulted by U.S. military: report". Reuters. October 5, 2007. Archived from the original on December 22, 2008. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  15. ↑ "Iraq determined to rein in private security guards". Archived from the original on January 24, 2013. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  16. ↑ "FBI Opens Probe into Blackwater". ABC News. Archived from the original on November 1, 2007. Retrieved October 8, 2007.
  17. ↑ Johnston, David; Broder, John M. (November 14, 2007). "F.B.I. Says Guards Killed 14 Iraqis Without Cause". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved April 26, 2010.
  18. 1 2 "The Iraqi Account of the Killings [infographic]". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 26, 2007.
  19. 1 2 3 4 Johnston, David; Broder, John M. (November 14, 2007). "F.B.I. Says Guards Killed 14 Iraqis Without Cause". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 20, 2013. Retrieved April 26, 2010.
  20. 1 2 United States of America v. Paul Alvin Slough, et al., 641F.3d544 ( D.C. Cir. 2011).
  21. 1 2 3 4 United States of America v. Paul A. Slough et al., 677F.Supp.2d112 ( D.D.C. 2009). alternate PDF link
  22. ↑ "Former Blackwater Employee Sentenced to Life Imprisonment for Murder in 2007 Shooting at Nisur Square in Iraq" (Press release). The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, United States Department of Justice. August 14, 2019. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
  23. ↑ United States v. Slough, 22F.Supp.3d29 ( D.C. Cir. 2014).
  24. ↑ "US Lawyers for Blackwater Guards: 2007 Baghdad Shooting was Self-Defense". Voice of America News. June 18, 2014. Retrieved December 24, 2020.[ dead link ]
  25. 1 2 Glanz, James; Rubin, Alissa J. (October 3, 2007). "From Errand to Fatal Shot to Hail of Fire to 17 Deaths". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 24, 2009. Retrieved April 26, 2010.
  26. 1 2 3 4 Hanner, Darren (September 16, 2007). "SAF Attack on COM Team" (PDF). U.S. Embassy Baghdad. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 26, 2007. Retrieved October 3, 2007.
  27. 1 2 3 Zagorin, Adam; Brian Bennett (September 3, 2007). "Iraq Limits Blackwater's Operations". TIME. Archived from the original on October 18, 2007. Retrieved October 3, 2007.
  28. 1 2 3 "Four Former Blackwater Employees Found Guilty of Charges in Fatal Nisur Square Shooting in Iraq" (Press release). United States Department of Justice. October 22, 2014. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
  29. 1 2 3 4 5 "Iraqi ministers back Blackwater shutdown - CNN.com". CNN . September 18, 2007. Archived from the original on September 18, 2007. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  30. ↑ Tavernise, Sabrina; James Glanz (September 19, 2007). "Iraqi Report Says Blackwater Guards Fired First". The New York Times . Archived from the original on April 11, 2009. Retrieved October 3, 2007.
  31. ↑ Partlow, Joshua (September 17, 2007). "State Dept. Convoy Attacked in Baghdad, Sparking a Shootout". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on October 12, 2007. Retrieved October 3, 2007.
  32. 1 2 Hanson, Jim. "The end of the warrior witch hunt". The Washington Times. Archived from the original on December 7, 2013. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  33. ↑ Glanz, James; Tavernise, Sabrina (September 28, 2007). "Blackwater Shooting Scene Was Chaotic". The New York Times . Archived from the original on April 10, 2009. Retrieved October 8, 2007.
  34. ↑ Risen, James (January 17, 2010). "3 Blackwater Guards Called Baghdad Shootings Unjustified". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 27, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  35. ↑ "Untitled OmniPage Document" (PDF). Justice.gov. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 15, 2011. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  36. 1 2 Will Iraq Kick Out Blackwater? Archived October 18, 2007, at the Wayback Machine by Adam Zagorin & Brian Bennett, Time, September 17, 2007: "A spokesman for Iraq's Interior Ministry has told reporters it has cancelled Blackwater's license and will launch an investigation into whether excessive force was used in the incident.
  37. 1 2 3 4 "Iraq: Blackwater staff to face charges". CNN. September 23, 2007. Archived from the original on September 24, 2007. Retrieved September 29, 2007.
  38. 1 2 "Blackwater Denies Any Wrongdoing in Shooting Incident (Update1)". Bloomberg L.P. September 17, 2007.
  39. 1 2 "Iraqi leader urges U.S. to cancel Blackwater contract". Cnn.com. Archived from the original on February 14, 2008. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  40. 1 2 "Iraqi Investigators say Videotape Shows Blackwater Guards Fired Without Aggravation". Fox News Channel. September 22, 2007. Archived from the original on December 23, 2007. Retrieved September 29, 2007.
  41. 1 2 3 "House Passes Bill That Would Hike Penalties for U.S. Security Contractors in Iraq". Fox News Channel. October 4, 2007. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved October 4, 2007.
  42. ↑ "H.R.2740 - 110th Congress (2007-2008): MEJA Expansion and Enforcement Act of 2007". www.congress.gov. October 15, 2007. Archived from the original on November 13, 2016. Retrieved September 2, 2024.
  43. ↑ "No Pact for Blackwater". The New York Times. Reuters. January 30, 2009. Archived from the original on October 27, 2014. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
  44. ↑ Blackwater Ban "Inevitable" Archived October 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine by Noah Shachtman, Wired Blog, September 17, 2007.
  45. ↑ "Private Security Company Association Iraq". Archived from the original on October 7, 2007. Retrieved September 29, 2007.
  46. ↑ Blackwater: Banned in Iraq? (Updated) Archived October 12, 2007, at the Wayback Machine , Wired Blog, Sharon Weinberger.
  47. 1 2 "Iraqi Government Disputes Blackwater USA's Version of Shooting". Fox News Channel. September 19, 2007. Archived from the original on October 16, 2007. Retrieved September 29, 2007.
  48. ↑ The New York Times , "No Pact for Blackwater" Archived March 11, 2017, at the Wayback Machine , January 31, 2009, p. 12.
  49. ↑ "Iraq battle was self-defense, security firm says". CNN. September 18, 2007. Archived from the original on September 20, 2007. Retrieved September 29, 2007.
  50. ↑ "FBI takes lead in probe over Blackwater crisis". Agence France-Presse. October 4, 2007. Archived from the original on May 20, 2011. Retrieved October 4, 2007.
  51. ↑ "Blackwater most often shoots first, congressional report says". CNN. October 2, 2007. Archived from the original on October 2, 2007. Retrieved October 2, 2007.
  52. ↑ "Report: Blackwater Killings Unjustified". Military.com. Archived from the original on November 15, 2007. Retrieved November 14, 2007.
  53. ↑ "Sworn Statement" (PDF). Abcnews.go.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 21, 2011. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  54. ↑ Nizza, Mike (November 14, 2007). "The Blackwater Gunner's Account". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved April 26, 2010.
  55. 1 2 3 4 Thompson, Ginger (January 19, 2008). "From Texas to Iraq, and Center of Blackwater Case". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2010.
  56. ↑ "News Briefs". Kentucky.com. Archived from the original on November 7, 2012. Retrieved February 23, 2012.
  57. ↑ Apuzzo, Matt, No forensic match for ammo in Blackwater shooting [ dead link ], Associated Press, April 1, 2009
  58. ↑ "The Associated Press: APNewsBreak: Blackwater founder questions FBI work". Archived from the original on April 7, 2011. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
  59. ↑ Higgins Alexander G.US rejects UN mercenary report Archived June 30, 2012, at the Wayback Machine USA Today, October 17, 2007 (syndicated article by Associated Press)
  60. ↑ Milliard, Todd S.; "Overcoming post-colonial myopia: A call to recognize and regulate private military companie"s Archived September 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine (PDF), Military Law Review, Vol. 173, June 2003. At the time of publication Major Milliard was a Judge Advocate in the Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Army. pp. 35–37.
  61. ↑ Higgins Alexander G."US rejects UN mercenary report" Archived June 30, 2012, at the Wayback Machine USA Today , October 17, 2007 (syndicated article by the Associated Press) "A spokesman for the U.S. Mission to U.N. offices in Geneva released a statement Wednesday 'The security guards working for U.S. government contractors in Iraq and elsewhere protect clearly defined United States government areas, and their work is defensive in nature'".
  62. ↑ "Wounded Iraqis: 'No one did anything' to provoke Blackwater". CNN. September 19, 2007. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved September 29, 2007.
  63. ↑ "Blackwater incident witness: 'It was hell'". CNN. October 3, 2007. Archived from the original on October 6, 2007. Retrieved October 2, 2007.
  64. 1 2 "Family Members of Slain Iraqis Sue Blackwater USA for Deadly Baghdad Shooting Archived October 12, 2007, at the Wayback Machine ." Democracy Now!. October 11, 2007. Retrieved October 11, 2007
  65. ↑ "Blackwater Verdict a U.S. 'Snub' of Iraqi Leader Nouri al-Maliki: Kayhan, Islamic Republic of Iran". Worldmeets.us. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  66. ↑ "White House: Contractor bill would have 'intolerable' effects". CNN. October 3, 2007. Archived from the original on February 18, 2009.
  67. ↑ "Archived copy". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on February 23, 2013. Retrieved September 6, 2017.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  68. ↑ "The Ballad of Cookie and Buzzy". Slate. Archived from the original on November 8, 2012. Retrieved February 16, 2013.
  69. ↑ Paul Richter (December 8, 2007). "State Dept.'s chief watchdog resigns". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved February 3, 2013.
  70. ↑ Kessler, Glenn; DeYoung, Karen (September 19, 2007). "State IG Accused of Averting Probes". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved September 6, 2017.
  71. ↑ Scahill, Jeremy (January 6, 2010). "Blackwater Settles Massacre Lawsuit" . The Nation. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
  72. ↑ Miller, Doug (January 6, 2012). "Blackwater settles Nisoor Square lawsuit". Archived from the original on March 22, 2012. Retrieved February 3, 2012.
  73. 1 2 Jordan, Lara Jakes; Apuzzo, Matt (December 8, 2008). "5 Blackwater guards face manslaughter charges". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. Archived from the original on December 9, 2008. Retrieved December 9, 2008.
  74. ↑ Ryan, Jason; Ross, Brian (December 8, 2008). "Blackwater Guard in Secret Deal to Testify in Massacre Case". ABC News. Retrieved December 23, 2008.
  75. ↑ Vicini, James (January 6, 2009). "US judge sets trial in 2010 for Blackwater guards". Reuters. Archived from the original on May 26, 2009. Retrieved October 19, 2009.
  76. ↑ Pickler, Nedra. "Appeals court revives Blackwater shooting case". The Washington Times. Archived from the original on April 28, 2011. Retrieved February 23, 2012.
  77. ↑ Pelton, Robert Young. "An American Commando in Exile". Men's Journal . Archived from the original on June 14, 2011. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
  78. ↑ Perez, Evan (April 22, 2011). "Appeals Court Revives Blackwater Case". The Wall Street Journal.
  79. ↑ "US judge dismisses charges in Blackwater Iraq killings". BBC News. December 31, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  80. ↑ Schmidt, Michael (April 25, 2011). "Reopening of Blackwater Case Confuses Iraqi Victims". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 2, 2011. Retrieved July 3, 2012.
  81. ↑ Shadid, Anthony (January 23, 2010). "Biden Says U.S. Will Appeal Blackwater Case Dismissal (Published 2010)". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  82. ↑ "ICD - Slough et al. - Asser Institute (Decision Date: 31 December 2009)". www.internationalcrimesdatabase.org. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  83. ↑ Risen, James (April 22, 2011). "Ex-Blackwater Guards Face Renewed Charges". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 14, 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2012.
  84. ↑ Devereaux, Ryan (June 5, 2012). "Blackwater guards lose bid to appeal charges in Iraqi civilian shooting case". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on December 4, 2013. Retrieved June 7, 2012.
  85. 1 2 Ingram, David (October 17, 2013). "Blackwater guards face new U.S. charges for Iraq shooting deaths". Reuters. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  86. ↑ Doyle, Michael (October 25, 2014). "Legal questions loom in Blackwater convictions". Seattle Times. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  87. 1 2 "Blackwater guards found guilty in Iraq shootings". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on June 27, 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2017.
  88. ↑ Apuzzo, Matt (April 11, 2015). "Emails Reveal Discord Over Blackwater Charges". The New York Times . Archived from the original on February 24, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  89. ↑ Apuzzo, Matt (April 13, 2015). "Ex-Blackwater Guards Sentenced to Long Prison Terms in 2007 Killings of Iraqi Civilians". The New York Times . Archived from the original on December 5, 2016. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  90. 1 2 Neuman, Scott (August 4, 2017). "U.S. Appeals Court Tosses Ex-Blackwater Guard's Conviction in 2007 Baghdad Massacre". NPR . Archived from the original on September 7, 2018. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  91. 1 2 Hsu, Spencer S. (August 4, 2017). "Murder conviction in Blackwater case thrown out, other sentences overturned". The Washington Post.
  92. 1 2 Apuzzo, Matt (August 4, 2017). "In Blackwater Case, Court Rejects a Murder Conviction and Voids 3 Sentences". The New York Times . Archived from the original on September 3, 2017. Retrieved September 14, 2017.
  93. ↑ Note, Recent Case: D.C. Circuit Holds It Cruel and Unusual to Impose Mandatory Thirty-Year Sentence on Military Contractors for Gun Charge , 131 Harv. L. Rev. 1465(2018).
  94. ↑ United States v. Slatten, 865F.3d767 ( D.C. Cir. 2017).
  95. ↑ "Former Blackwater contractor found guilty of murder in Iraq massacre". NBC News. Archived from the original on December 19, 2018. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  96. ↑ Viswanatha, Aruna (August 14, 2019). "Former Blackwater Guard Sentenced to Life for 2007 Baghdad Traffic-Circle Shooting". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  97. ↑ "Former Blackwater security contractor sentenced to life in Iraq shootings; In all, 10 men, two women and two boys, ages 9 and 11, were killed". nbcnews.com. Associated Press. August 14, 2019.
  98. ↑ Mineiro, Megan (September 5, 2019). "Blackwater Contractors Resentenced in 2007 Attack on Baghdad Civilians". Courthouse News Service. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  99. ↑ Najim, Aqeel; Khadder, Kareem; Fox, Kara (November 23, 2020). "Survivors of Blackwater massacre in Iraq slam Trump's pardons for US guards behind killing". CNN. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  100. ↑ "Statement from the Press Secretary Regarding Executive Grants of Clemency". whitehouse.gov (Press release). December 22, 2020. Retrieved December 28, 2020– via National Archives.
  101. ↑ Kullab, Samya (December 24, 2020). "Relative of Blackwater victim in Iraq says pardons 'unfair'". AP News. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
  102. ↑ "UN criticises Trump's pardons for Blackwater guards jailed over Iraq killings". BBC News. December 23, 2020. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
  103. ↑ Dickinson, Paul (December 23, 2020). "I Sued Blackwater for the Massacre of Iraqi Civilians. Trump Just Pardoned Those Convicted Killers". The Intercept. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
  104. ↑ Tucker, Eric; Knickmeyer, Ellen (December 23, 2020). "Pardons in killings of Iraqi civilians stir angry response". AP News. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.