Meanwhile, it took two weeks before a 10-person FBI team was sent to investigate the massacre for the government. Dec. 24, 2020 Mohammed Hafedh Abdulrazzaq Kinani with a photo of his 9-year-old son, Ali, who was killed by Blackwater. courts. [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. Donald Trump has pardoned four security guards from the private military firm Blackwater who were serving jail sentences for killing 14 civilians including two children in Baghdad in 2007, a massacre that sparked an international outcry over the use of mercenaries in war. [41] Senate Democratic leaders said they planned to pass similar legislation as soon as possible. He watched as all four cars drove away as the 15-minute shooting spree ended, and huddled in fear as the helicopters began firing. In addition, the vehicles that were meant to protect diplomats were "poorly maintained," and during one party, four drunk Blackwater guards had crashed a $180,000 armored vehicle into a concrete barrier. His forehead and brains were missing and his skin completely burned. Blackwater Guards Found Guilty in 2007 Iraq Killings The Blackwater guards also shot at cars, taxis, and buses. U.S. military reports appear to corroborate the Iraqi government's contention that Blackwater was at fault in the incident. The story follows Prince, a Navy SEAL turned billionaire, as he is dogged by a grand-jury. It remains unclear whether the team member mistook the civilians for insurgents. According to The New York Times, after the initial gunfire on the first car, the Blackwater guards "unleashed an overwhelming barrage of gunfire" onto Iraqi people who were trying to flee. His tough faade cracked as he described the moment he learned about the shootings. The Blackwater company itself wasn't charged. Erik Prince - The Rise and Fall of Blackwater | SRS #029 At first, this seemed completely normal for the totally abnormal world of Baghdad in September 2007. [36] Several Iraqi and American investigations have been conducted into the incident. They were also contracted for personal protective services in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Haiti, Israel, and Palestine. Although one military review found that "all of the killings were unjustified and potentially criminal," in November 2007, the FBI determined that only 14 out of the 17 killings were unjustified, according to Reuters. Haythem Ahmed was barely able to identify his son and his wife when he got to the scene, since their car had been completely burned. Sadly, this lawsuit may be the only way that the victims and their families receive remotely adequate compensation for their losses. and tried to gesture to his colleagues in an attempt to stop the shooting. Although Blackwater denies using helicopters, "at least one [of] the car roofs had bullets through them.". [8][98] 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 pardons are one of several the US president has granted to American service personnel and contractors accused or convicted of crimes against non-combatants and civilians in war zones. 2004 Fallujah ambush - Wikipedia An error occurred while subscribing your email address. 23 December 2020. The report found that the guards fired their weapons 195 times from the beginning of 2005 through the second week of September 2005. Convoy Attacked in Baghdad, Sparking a Shootout", "3 Blackwater Guards Called Baghdad Shootings Unjustified", "Blackwater Denies Any Wrongdoing in Shooting Incident (Update1)", "Iraqi leader urges U.S. to cancel Blackwater contract", "Iraqi Investigators say Videotape Shows Blackwater Guards Fired Without Aggravation", "House Passes Bill That Would Hike Penalties for U.S. Security Contractors in Iraq", "Private Security Company Association Iraq", "Iraqi Government Disputes Blackwater USA's Version of Shooting", "Iraq battle was self-defense, security firm says", "FBI takes lead in probe over Blackwater crisis", "Blackwater most often shoots first, congressional report says", "Report: Blackwater Killings Unjustified", "From Texas to Iraq, and Center of Blackwater Case", No forensic match for ammo in Blackwater shooting, "The Associated Press: APNewsBreak: Blackwater founder questions FBI work", "Overcoming post-colonial myopia: A call to recognize and regulate private military companie"s, Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Army, "Wounded Iraqis: 'No one did anything' to provoke Blackwater", "Blackwater incident witness: 'It was hell', Family Members of Slain Iraqis Sue Blackwater USA for Deadly Baghdad Shooting, "Blackwater Verdict a U.S. 'Snub' of Iraqi Leader Nouri al-Maliki: Kayhan, Islamic Republic of Iran", "White House: Contractor bill would have 'intolerable' effects", "Blackwater settles Nisoor Square lawsuit", "5 Blackwater guards face manslaughter charges", "Blackwater Guard in Secret Deal to Testify in Massacre Case", "US judge sets trial in 2010 for Blackwater guards", "Appeals court revives Blackwater shooting case", "US judge dismisses charges in Blackwater Iraq killings", "Reopening of Blackwater Case Confuses Iraqi Victims", "Biden Says U.S. Will Appeal Blackwater Case Dismissal (Published 2010)", "ICD - Slough et al. 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. According to Tidings Media, one guard continued to shoot at unarmed civilians until another guard drew his own gun on him and threatened to shoot. 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. But the accounts of Khalaf and others contradict each of Prince's assertions. Blackwater: Directed by Bill Rogers, Bill Schreiber, R. Douglas Zipperer. Blackwater mercenaries committed a massacre. Now, left to deal with the aftermath are 16 grieving families, and those, like Hooby, still trying to recover from their wounds. ", Failure to Uncover the Fate of Syrias Missing, Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people in close to 100 countries worldwide, spotlighting abuses and bringing perpetrators to justice. The 2004 Fallujah Blackwater incident occurred on March 31, 2004, when Iraqi insurgents attacked a convoy containing four American contractors from the private military company Blackwater USA who were conducting a delivery for food caterers ESS. [7][8] U.N. experts said this "violated U.S. obligations under international law". The 2007 incident in Baghdad's Nisoor Square caused an international outcry. Ghasson Mahmood was a 55-year-old civil engineer. ", Ahmed "was my first baby boy," he said. [34], In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, Blackwater's rights to conduct work in Iraq were temporarily suspended. [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. Prosecutors asserted the heavily armed Raven 23 Blackwater convoy launched an unprovoked attack using sniper fire, machine-guns and grenade launchers. Also quoted in the memorandum was David Boslego, a retired US army colonel, who said the massacre was a grossly excessive use of force and grossly inappropriate for an entity whose only job was to provide personal protection to somebody in an armoured vehicle. The logs depicted "a hectic eight minutes in which the guards repeatedly reported incoming gunfire from insurgents and Iraqi police". Black Water (2018) - Full Cast & Crew - IMDb And despite numerous failures to comply with its security contract, including a failure to maintain the required number of security specialists, the State Department never sought out the $55 million in penalties that Blackwater should've been charged. Blackwater Mercenaries Filmed on a Rampage in Iraq & Shooting Civilians Supporters of the former contractors at Blackwater Worldwide had lobbied for the pardons, arguing that the men had been excessively punished. The incident led to at least five investigations and although the Blackwater guards repeatedly claimed that their actions were justified, several of them came to the opposite conclusion. Sequence of events triggering the Nisour Square massacre, Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, Private Security Company Association of Iraq, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security, Inspector General of the U.S. State Department, United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, "U.S. [47], The U.S. State Department said it planned to investigate what it called a "terrible incident". [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. Prosecutors argued the men did not face hostile gunfire when they began shooting, and continued to shoot despite the lack of threats. However, according to The New York Times, the Iraqi government technically didn't have the legal authority to do so since the U.S.-led transitional government shielded security contractors from Iraqi laws, per CNN. FBI team leader: How I know the Blackwater defendants didn't - CNN [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". And it's estimated that at least one other person died from the second shooting incident. The Intercept reports that others who tried to run for cover were killed by machine gunfire. The private military company branched structure consisting of more than a dozen offices reporting the managing organization Xe Services. The State Department announced an American-Iraqi joint commission to investigate both the shooting and the broader issue of employing private security contractors. The massacre took place in 2007, when the four were working as guards for Blackwater, a private military contractor, on an assignment in Baghdad. [38] Waxman stated that "the controversy over Blackwater is an unfortunate demonstration of the perils of excessive reliance on private security contractors. The screenplay was originally written by Stuart Beattie, with Roskam penning the most recent draft. He hid behind the police traffic booth, but shots came directly at him, hitting the adjacent traffic light and booth's door, and he fled back across Yarmouk road to safety behind a hill.