Judge dismisses all charges in Blackwater shooting

[Volucris]

I’m not saying they did anything, I’m just pointing out that it doesn’t exactly look like they’re saints right now. Not out of the bush just yet. I don’t want you to get the message that I think I have some sort of insider knowledge on this because I absolutely don’t. I’ve just been reading the news stories on it and reading forums like this place where guys with some real experience in the sector can make things more clear.

And yes, I’m fully aware that good men have been falsely incriminated in the past for things alike this. I’d just like to see where this goes.

[Left_Sig]

@WGG

Unfortunately they are not going to be able to walk away from this just yet. The Iraquis are going to sue them and the current administration will probably not just drop the issue.

I’m not a lawyer, so can someone explain under what jurisdiction, venue, and extradition treaty they are going to do this? So the Iraqi government sues me and says I have to show up in their civil court. I don’t show, they find me guilty in absentia and have no means to extract any judgement. Or can this be done in a US court?

[system]

@Left_Sig

I’m not a lawyer, so can someone explain under what jurisdiction, venue, and extradition treaty they are going to do this? So the Iraqi government sues me and says I have to show up in their civil court. I don’t show, they find me guilty in absentia and have no means to extract any judgement. Or can this be done in a US court?

An Iraqi court can do whatever their country’s government says it can do.

If Iraqis plan to sue the BW guys, though, it will almost certainly have to happen in a U.S. federal court.

[milosz]

Damn bleeding heart liberals letting people off on technicalities.

[John_Wayne777]

@ToddG

An Iraqi court can do whatever their country’s government says it can do.

If Iraqis plan to sue the BW guys, though, it will almost certainly have to happen in a U.S. federal court.

…and I’m sure the judges and lawyers will all have lots of fun figuring out all the legal issues such a move would bring up.

[Brother_Rat]

Whatever else happens, I’m just glad for this step in the right direction and hope the guys got to spend a stress-free New Years with their families.

[Iraqgunz]

That may be tue. However, one need only look at the abusrdity of the charges to begin with. One of the charges was an old machine gun law that was designed to target drug traffickers.

@dbrowne1

I don’t know much about the underlying facts, but they got off on what most people would call a technicality. The charges weren’t dismissed because the court found that they did nothing wrong. This decision was a slap against the government improperly using immunized statements, not a vindication of the contractors’ actions.

Again, I have no idea whether they did or did not commit any wrongs here - but the court didn’t decide that.

[RancidSumo]

I am glad that this turned out the way it did. In my opinion, it is war and shit happens. If I was there (which I obviously wasn’t so I don’t know all of the facts) and I saw something that posed a threat to myself or my friends, I would do whatever it took to bring myself home alive. If that isn’t what happened then I guess they will get their punishment in the end anyway.

[TEXAS_GLOCKER]

Right on…God Bless them and thier family!! And thanks to all of them for thier service and sacrifice!!

[6933]

Blackwater is an organization targeted by libs(that no doubt have aided the Iraqi’s) that has provided an invaluable service to our country. I feel, in the end, the guy’s will be exonerated.

[HK51Fan]

@CBTech

It is 3 Frogs, not a Team. Also, I know one of them as well. He spent most of his young life working to become a SEAL and when I was stationed with he was a GM2 on his way to BUD/s. I am pretty sure he’s a lifer.

I sure hope you’re right. something this chicken shit shouldn’t effect the lives of some good guy’s that are laying out on the line. I have a buddy that’s selling freakin new homes that was a PJ and some stupid shit happened in Afghanistan a few years ago that caused him to not reup after putting in 12yrs…

I hope your friends and his buddies get their case dismissed as well.

Regards,

R

[JSantoro]

@Iraqgunz

One of the charges was an old machine gun law that was designed to target drug traffickers.

That’s the part that I’ve always thought was the most upgefuked part of the whole sordid affair.

[DocHolliday01]

@Volucris

[b]Well, I for one do not want to see this end right here. This is essentially stating that private contractors are allowed to get away with murder. One of them pled guilty, investigations say the killings were unprovoked, and these guys aren’t in prison?

Unless people come forth and tell the truth about what happened, everything still points to them being responsible for the deaths of those civilians.[/b]

@Volucris

I’m not saying they did anything, I’m just pointing out that it doesn’t exactly look like they’re saints right now. Not out of the bush just yet. I don’t want you to get the message that I think I have some sort of insider knowledge on this because I absolutely don’t. I’ve just been reading the news stories on it and reading forums like this place where guys with some real experience in the sector can make things more clear.

And yes, I’m fully aware that good men have been falsely incriminated in the past for things alike this. I’d just like to see where this goes.

Sure looks like it to me.

[John_Wayne777]

@Riverine

That’s the part that I’ve always thought was the most upgefuked part of the whole sordid affair.

I believe it is known colloquially as “throwing the book at” them.

[system]

Yeah, but it’s embarrassing when you don’t even graze 'em with the book after you threw it with such vigor…

[Bantee]

Gentlemen, please forgive my ignorance, but if I’m reading correctly are you saying that men fighting a war could in fact undergo some form of "civil’ suit after a ruling has been handed down as though this was some type of civilian “bad shoot”?

[Aries144]

ghjkl

[lawusmc0844]

I am glad to see this outcome! War is hell, shit happens, right? Why should people even reenlist if they will get punished for doing their jobs!? (Made the mistake last year, at least I got 3 years left…) :rolleyes:

Just to piss of liberal shitheads, I SUPPORT BLACKWATER!

[dbrowne1]

@Iraqgunz

That may be tue. However, one need only look at the abusrdity of the charges to begin with. One of the charges was an old machine gun law that was designed to target drug traffickers.

I agree with you on that, regardless of whether their actions were right or wrong. Total chickenshit to stack them with the machinegun charge when they were using government sanctioned MGs in performance of a government contract, even if they did do something wrong or illegal. If they were in the wrong, so be it, but if they were it’s not because of the guns they used.

I don’t remember if I posted anything about it, but when this whole shitstorm started, I remember reading here and on other forums and thinking how absurd that was.

[Buckaroo]

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/nation_world/story/300288.html

By MATT APUZZO - Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD – The U.S. will appeal a court decision dismissing manslaughter charges against five Blackwater Worldwide security contractors involved in a deadly 2007 Baghdad shooting, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Saturday.

Biden’s announcement after a meeting with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani shows just how diplomatically sensitive the incident remains nearly three years later.

Blackwater security contractors were guarding U.S. diplomats when the guards opened fire in a crowded Baghdad intersection. Seventeen people were killed, including women and children, in a shooting that inflamed anti-American sentiment in Iraqi.

Biden expressed his “personal regret” for the shooting and said the Obama administration was disappointed by the dismissal. “A dismissal is not an acquittal,” he said.

The U.S. rebuffed Iraqi demands that the U.S. contractors face trial in Iraqi courts. After a lengthy investigation, U.S. prosecutors charged five of the contractors with manslaughter and took a guilty plea from a sixth.

But the case fell apart in December after a judge found that the Justice Department mishandled evidence and violated the guards’ constitutional rights. Prosecutors now face difficult odds getting an appeals court to reinstate the case.

The dismissal outraged many Iraqis, who said it showed the Americans considered themselves above the law. The Iraqi government began collecting signatures for a class-action lawsuit from victims who were wounded or lost relatives.

Messages seeking comment from lawyers for the guards were not immediately returned Saturday.

Blackwater has said the guards were innocent, contending there were ambushed by insurgents. Prosecutors said the shooting was unprovoked.

Court documents paint a murky picture of a case rife with conflicting evidence. Some witnesses say the Blackwater convoy was under fire; others say it wasn’t. Some said the entire convoy fired into the intersection; others said only a few men opened fire.

Even the government’s key witnesses, three members of the Blackwater convoy, at times seemed to undercut the government’s case.

Since the shooting, Blackwater has renamed itself Xe Services and overhauled its management. Iraq has pulled the company’s license to operate in the country.

WTH? Is this to appease the Iraqis?

Buckaroo