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Ear to the Ground

Federal Judge Dismisses Charges in Blackwater Shooting Case

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Posted on Dec 31, 2009
Blackwater helicopter
Wikimedia Commons / jamesdale10

A Blackwater helicopter flies over a bust of Saddam Hussein near Baghdad’s Republican Palace in 2007.

A federal judge let five Blackwater Worldwide security contractors off the hook Thursday, dropping all charges against them in a 2007 case in which 14 Iraqi civilians were killed and 20 wounded during a Baghdad shooting. The Justice Department wasn’t thrilled with this outcome, and a DoJ spokesman told The Washington Post that his colleagues are “still in the process of reviewing the opinion and considering our options.”  —KA

The Washington Post:

In a 90-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina ruled that the government violated the guards’ rights by using their immunized statements to help the investigation. The ruling comes after a lengthy set of hearings that examined whether federal prosecutors and agents improperly used such statements that the guards gave to State Department investigators following the shooting on Sept. 16, 2007.

“The explanations offered by prosecutors and investigators in an attempt to justify their actions and persuade the court that they did not use the defendants’ compelled testimony were all too often contradictory, unbelievable and lacking in credibility,” Urbina wrote.

[...] The five guards—Paul Slough, Nicholas Slatten, Evan Liberty, Dustin Heard and Donald Ball—are charged with voluntary manslaughter and weapons violations in the killing of 14 civilians and the wounding of 20 others.

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By DBM, January 2, 2010 at 8:45 pm Link to this comment

Whew!  Obviously the risk to really powerful people was too great this time to allow scapegoating of some (very deserving) “bad apples”.  I guess we only just avoided undermining the continued use of mercenaries and torture specialists by exposing the powerful people and institutions responsible.

Thank goodness ... now the American people can sleep soundly.  Happy to know that they are being protected by the thugs with impunity.

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DieDaily's avatar

By DieDaily, January 1, 2010 at 11:41 pm Link to this comment

“Federal Judge”. A new oxymoron, I guess. Sure you can shoot brown people. Go for it. Shoot them all. What an unbelievable travesty.

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By stellarwinds, January 1, 2010 at 2:44 pm Link to this comment

Hey Iraqui brothers !

this is how ‘merika deals with you. Because you’re not white.

now take Kalheed Sheik Mohammed, he was tortutred and that evidence will be used against him in kangoroo court, no admissibility problem there, holder said that won’t be a problem… 

(BTW I always thought it was bin bogeyman responsible for 911, now it’s KSM?  Note to the false flag spooks: this is really starting to look amateurish, like that flase flag nigerian underwear bomber let in the plane without passport?  WTF?)

So dear Iraqui brothers…

if ‘merika will do nothing but spit in your face, how you gonna get justice?

why don’t you stop waiting for it and decide doing your own right now.

To ‘merikans one raghead is like any other…

fine.

to you one ‘merikan is just like any other…

once you got enough “justice”, officially kick them out of your illegally invaded and occupied country a la De Gaulle; they won’t listen but the whole world will see how all this “we are not invaders stuff” is BS once and for all.

Then go to the Hague, ask for prosecutions, and reparations.

mak’em pay and pay and pay.

and if someday you get your hands on a nuke, you know what to do, let’em taste a little bit of that shock and awe…

For every action, there’s a reaction.

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By wildflower, January 1, 2010 at 2:33 pm Link to this comment

RE WAPO: “the government’s trial team repeatedly disregarded the warnings of experienced, senior prosecutors, assigned to the case specifically to advise the trial team” on such matters.”

So why didn’t the senior prosecutors conduct this important case?  Maybe the families of these victims should request a re-trial on the grounds of incompetent junior prosecutors.  Surely, the senior prosecutors could be called as witnesses to the fact that the junior prosectors had been advised and warned.

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By Mary Ann McNeely, January 1, 2010 at 11:46 am Link to this comment

The Justice Department wasn’t thrilled with this outcome, and a DoJ spokesman told The Washington Post that his colleagues are “still in the process of reviewing the opinion and considering our options.”

Option 1 - Go to a strip club

Option 2 - Get drunk or do some blow

Option 3 - Which Bowl game are we going to watch?  Holder likes the Rose Bowl so we’ll all have to watch the Rose Bowl

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By msgmi, January 1, 2010 at 8:41 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

It appears that Judge Urbina’s hands were tied after DOJ granted the suspects immunity. A similar scenario occurred with Oliver North incidental to the Iran-Contra caper. The obvious was not considered during the investigative period.

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By Jim Yell, January 1, 2010 at 8:14 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

I think one of the most compelling videos I saw was the US forces, or was it private forces driving thru Bagdad, ignoring traffic and pedestrians. While I could understand their terror in being occuping forces in someone elses country, it was the complete disregard for the safety of the population that was sadly reveiled by this arrogance. This encapsulates “what is wrong with the occupation”.

Now we have another example. People who wish to be blind will ignore that this ruling has nothing to do with these men’s guilt, but only with a question of legality in processing the evidence. I can understand the need to demand un-contaminated evidence in convicting people of horrid crimes, but can not admire that we punish the public at large in doing so, but not the ones who contaminated the evidence.

A large part of our history has been a movement to expand justice and fair treatment and yet the last few decades we have let gangsters dishonor the entire country, A third of the population cheers the gangsters, a third just go about their business and another third are broken by various personal concerns and pet peeves. What do you think the results will be?

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By Hank from Nebraska, January 1, 2010 at 8:11 am Link to this comment

So what else is new.  This is the way we have dealt with all the murders and atrocities committed by the U.S. military and its mercenaries.  It seems as though all military trials and investigations have ended up with similar dismissals or very light sentences based on contrived technical grounds.  Let’s just face it, our system has decided that the U.S. can kill at will, and anyone who objects is a terrorist.  We should be so proud of what we have become!

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By ardee, January 1, 2010 at 5:42 am Link to this comment

The fix is in, apparently.

While I applaud and understand the system of Justice that seeks first to guarantee the rights of the accused, I think the greater issue is that of the use of private mercenaries like these Blackwater folks.

I think it obvious that this trending is useful in avoiding a draft that would quickly rally the anti war folks and supply them with many allies among the families of those drafted. The use of Blackwater is, or should be, a crime.

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Russian Paul's avatar

By Russian Paul, January 1, 2010 at 5:21 am Link to this comment

What a bullshit ruling! There are many eye witnesses available including the 6th
Blackwater guard who plead guilty! Now it seems the only one with a conscience
is the one going to prison.

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By P. T., December 31, 2009 at 10:54 pm Link to this comment

You can get away with murder.

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McTN's avatar

By McTN, December 31, 2009 at 9:21 pm Link to this comment

Who is surprised by this? Once this took place in an American federal court, the verdict was clear.  Just another brief chapter in the Iraq Cover-Up book. Now those dirty little secrets don’t have to be exposed and doubya can sleep peacefully another night.

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By Naz, December 31, 2009 at 6:46 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

A cloud over his head? There ought to be a noose around all their necks, in my opinion. Shooting unarmed civilians is straight up murder, especially when you’re not even a soldier. But Hilliary Clinton and Obama probably want to pin medals on them in a ceremony in the rose garden. Then dozens of brain dead republicans and democrats can thank them for defending and protecting us. Hey, why not invite all those mighty brave Israelis who slaughtered 1400 defenseless men, women, and children in Gaza, too?

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