blackwater massacre documentary blackwater massacre documentary

Salman ran over to the car and as he raised his hand to stop the shooting, the Blackwater guards responded by shooting Mohassin dead as she clung to her son, reports NPR. It's all the news that's fit to watch. [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. Essentially, Prince wanted a "free-market version" of military training. [37] A senior aide to al-Maliki said that three of the Blackwater guards were Iraqis and could be subject to prosecution. The report further said that Blackwater had reported that its forces fired first in over 80 percent of the cases. They claimed they were fired on, but prosecutors . [57], 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. [87], 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. The man was Ahmed, a 20-year-old medical student at the top of his class, and the woman his mother, Mohasin, a successful dermatologist and mother of three. The key people in this have not spoken with investigators. "I kept calling, but thought there must be some sort of cellphone interruption.". It was funded with millions that Prince inherited from the . Trump pardons ex-campaign aide and disgraced Republican lawmakers, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. Blackwater was founded by ex-Navy SEAL Erik Prince in 1997 as a shooting range and military training ground in Moyock, North Carolina. Share this via WhatsApp On September 16, 2007, a car bomb went off in Baghdad, Iraq, near the Izdihar Compound, where a U.S. diplomat was meeting with Iraqi officials, at approximately 11:53 AM. But according to ICD, some of the plaintiffs claimed that they were "forced to accept the settlement.". The massacre took place in 2007, when the four were working as guards for Blackwater, a private military contractor, on an assignment in Baghdad. [42] A spokesman stated that the ban would last for the duration of the investigation, and that it would not be permanent. One such incident is the Blackwater massacre, also known as the Nisour Square massacre. This time, only four out of the five guards were charged, since the charges against Ball were dropped based on "prosecutorial discretion. [16] The FBI investigation found that, of the 17 Iraqis killed by the guards, at least 14 were shot without cause. [15] The incident sparked at least five investigations, including one from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The 2007 incident in Baghdad's Nisoor Square caused an international outcry. 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. 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. [64], 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. His forehead and brains were missing and his skin completely burned. [17], 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. He was shot through the roof of his car as the Blackwater convoy drove past firing down into traffic. He identified his wife of 20 years by a dental bridge. His brother went to the emergency room, then to the morgue. [6][86] Bringing the weapons charges was disputed within the Justice Department, which initially opposed including them in the indictment. [79] 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. He suffered from his wounds for over a year . Khalaf recounted the events of that day to a hushed room of lawyers with laptops. We are taking fire from insurgents and Iraqi police. A rocket grenade was fired into one of the cars, killing its driver. 23 December 2020. The Blackwater guards also shot at cars, taxis, and buses. [1][2][3] The killings outraged Iraqis and strained relations between Iraq and the United States. "Conduct our deepest love to all the Americans who support and work hard to stop killing of innocent people all over the world," he said. The large metal rod implanted by the surgeon to help his broken bone heal properly is expected to be removed at the end of December. [89][90][91] 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. NOW ON DVD www.noendinsightmovie.com The first film of its kind to chronicle the reasons behind Iraq's descent into guerilla war, warlord rule, criminality . We responded to a threat accordingly." In Nisour Square, the Blackwater team later claimed that they were "engaged with small arms fire" by an "estimated 8-10 persons." The numerals and letters matched the family's plate. With the contract to provide security for L. Paul Bremer, Blackwater essentially "cement[ed] its presence at the center of conflict in Iraq," per PBS. [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. Blackwater has been one of the biggest recipients. In remarks prepared for delivery before a congressional hearing in October, Blackwater chairman Erik Prince claimed company guards "returned fire at threatening targets," including "men with AK-47s firing on the convoy" and "approaching vehicles that appeared to be suicide car bombers." An initial prosecution was thrown out by a federal judge sparking outrage in Iraq but the then vice-president, Joe Biden, promised to pursue a fresh prosecution, which succeeded in 2015. After the September 11th attacks, Blackwater expanded their security-related work and followed the U.S. military into Afghanistan. Share this via Telegram The Burke O'Neil lawsuit may be the only way that victims receive compensation for their loss. FBI investigators who visited the scene in the following days described it as the My Lai massacre of Iraq a reference to the infamous slaughter of civilian villagers by US troops during the Vietnam war in which only one soldier was convicted. 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. The case was consolidated with four other cases against Blackwater and on January 1, 2010, the plaintiffs agreed to a settlement and to withdraw their complaint. 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. As of 2021, their name is Academi after being taken over by an "unnamed group of private investors.". They beat citizens and scorn them. An Iraqi looks 24 September 2007, at a burnt car on the site where Blackwater guards who were escorting US embassy officials opened fire in the western Baghdad neighbourhood of Yarmukh, a shootout . U.S. military reports appear to corroborate the Iraqi government's contention that Blackwater was at fault in the incident. Iraqi police and Iraqi Army soldiers, mistaking the stun grenades for fragmentation grenades, opened fire at the Blackwater men, to which they responded. [45] Also, it is not clear whether the license revocation is permanent. But this convoy made an unexpected U-turn, drove the wrong way around the one-way square, stopped in the middle of it and started shooting. [7][8] U.N. experts said this "violated U.S. obligations under international law". The Untold Truth Of The Blackwater Massacre, no evidence to support Blackwater's claims, Business and Human Rights Resource Centre. Assadi, 31, a stoic, unsmiling man, became the head of the family after his older brother Usama was killed in the shootings. And none of the I.P. The line of bullet holes in one side door is overshadowed by the two soccer-ball-size holes in the roof and driver's side door. Other times, Blackwater guards left a trail of civilian casualties. Fareed Walid Hassan remembers that "the shooting started like rain." The trial against Heard, Liberty, Slatten, and Slough began around June 2014 and lasted over two months. Sadly, this lawsuit may be the only way that the victims and their families receive remotely adequate compensation for their losses. Blackwater's owner, Erik Prince, recently said his company is spending $2 million a month in legal . [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] all four convicted were controversially pardoned by President Donald Trump in December 2020. "I said their lives are priceless," said Haythem. Two days after the meeting with Carroll, Richter and Thomas were told by an embassy official to "leave Iraq immediately.". John M. Patarini was the FBI agent leading the investigation, and although they went into the investigation thinking that civilians had merely been caught in crossfire, they soon realized that "it was a massacre along the lines of My Lai in Vietnam," per The Guardian. "If you perceive marriage as half of your life, Mohasin was my best half," he said. These are not isolated events. That day changed my life forever. 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. [89][90][91] 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. 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". At first, this seemed completely normal for the totally abnormal world of Baghdad in September 2007. [97], On December 22, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump granted full presidential pardons to Slatten, Slough, Liberty, and Heard. Blackwater: Directed by Bill Rogers, Bill Schreiber, R. Douglas Zipperer. Haythem identified his son from what was left of his shoes. This is the untold truth of the Blackwater massacre. "I tried to help the young man, but his mother was holding him so tight," said Khalaf. But the accounts of Khalaf and others contradict each of Prince's assertions. As shootings in the square were not uncommon, it is unclear whether the shells were from the shooting in question or from other incidents. Recent episodes in U.S. 1:08 'Look at That Thing': Footage Shows. Blackwater guards were also known for driving on the wrong side of the road and crashing into civilian cars. And it's estimated that at least one other person died from the second shooting incident. Slattern was sentenced to life and the others to 30 years in prison each. and tried to gesture to his colleagues in an attempt to stop the shooting. With experience learned from a similar lawsuit filed two years ago against US contractors implicated in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison scandal, Burke O'Neil is perhaps the only law firm in the nation that could so quickly gather eyewitness and victim accounts, make the right legal arguments and begin the process of holding Blackwater to account. [3][84] Prosecutors stated they reached their decision after an "assessment of the admissible evidence against him". Along with a few hundred others, he stayed there as the chaos unfolded, watching as the helicopters circling above the street started shooting at those below. He learned that all of the bodies there were identified -- except for two that were completely burned with body parts missing. [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. The Nisour Square massacre was one of the lowest episodes of the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq. He described how he crouched by the car, his right arm reaching inside, his head out and left arm up in the air, signaling to the convoy, his gun secure in its holster. Ghasson Mahmood was a 55-year-old civil engineer. Blackwater despite numerous scandals, congressional investigations, FBI probes and documented killings of civilians in both Iraq and Afghanistan remained a central part of the Obama. (An unrelated bombing in a nearby market cut the shopping trip short.) [73], The trial was set for early 2010,[74] 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. 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]". NPR reports that sometime after the Al-Qaeda bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen in October 2000, where 17 sailors were killed, Blackwater won a $46 million contract from the U.S government for "training sailors in counterterrorism." "[21] Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki harshly criticized the dismissal. Prince's remarks were subsequently reported in the Washington Post.). Get updates on human rights issues from around the globe. A sixth guard, Jeremy Ridgeway, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with investigators, World reports. This decision was appealed by the Department of Justice and in 2011, the ruling was reversed. ", 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. [54], Radio logs released in December 2008 seemed to affirm that the guards had been responding to an attack on September 16. Rogers. Black Water is a 2007 Australian horror film written and directed by Andrew Traucki and David Nerlich. 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. But the State Department representative kept insisting on a number. [83], In September 2013, the charges against Ball were dropped. 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." No! ", The State Department contacted Haythem and asked how much he wanted for compensation. 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. The film's primary themes are: A few token prosecutions of a handful of Blackwater employees will not be enough. The New York Times reports that when Richter confronted Daniel Carroll, Blackwater's Iraq project manager, about this on August 21, 2007, Carroll became incredibly aggressive and told Richter "that he [Carroll] could kill me [Richter] at that very moment and no one could or would do anything about it as we were in Iraq. The Blackwater Shooting (2007) | The New York Times The New York Times 4.26M subscribers 1.1M views 8 years ago In this 2007 video, witnesses shed light on the killing of 17 Iraqis by American. When he got out of his car to find out what was happening, he saw the convoy and the white car burning, and started yelling at the other cars to turn around. Share this via Reddit [9], Blackwater guards claimed that the convoy was ambushed and that they fired at the attackers in defense of the convoy. In the end, after seven weeks of deliberations, Slough, Heard, and Liberty were convicted of voluntary manslaughter and Slatten was found guilty of murder, since he was responsible for the first death in Nisour Square, Reuters reports. [41], On September 18, 2007, an Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman said Blackwater is "not allowed to operate anywhere in the Republic of Iraq". For a moment, it appeared as though Blackwater was going to be responsible for guarding the FBI agents, but the Bureau soon announced that the FBI agents would instead be guarded by "official personnel," rather than the very company that they were to be investigating. [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. Two helicopters circled overhead, each with a man strapped in and a machine gun sticking out. Share this via Twitter Blackwater mercenaries committed a massacre. Raven 23 "returned defensive fire" and withdrew from Nisour Square with one of its BearCat vehicles in tow. Prosecutors argued the men did not face hostile gunfire when they began shooting, and continued to shoot despite the lack of threats. [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. Prosecutors asserted the heavily armed Raven 23 Blackwater convoy launched an unprovoked attack using sniper fire, machine-guns and grenade launchers. Despite being heavily involved with the United States' military involvement in Southwest and Central Asia, Blackwater was often harmful and rarely helpful. If successful, it will be the first time the US government has held private security contractors criminally liable for abusive behavior directed at Iraqis. 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. Initially, they worked providing training support to law enforcement and the justice department, but as Prince once stated, their "corporate goal [was] to do for the national security apparatus what FedEx did to the postal service." 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. We were in a combat zone where things can happen quite unexpectedly, especially when issues involve potentially negative impacts on a lucrative security contract." The UN has sharply criticised President Donald Trump's decision to pardon four former Blackwater . [46] On September 21, CNN reported that Blackwater would resume normal operations the following day. He ran three cars back to a white sedan to find a woman holding a young man slumped over and covered with blood. Ali Khalaf Salman, a traffic cop who was there, recounted seeing an American shoot Ahmed. Meanwhile, it took two weeks before a 10-person FBI team was sent to investigate the massacre for the government. "[51][52][53], 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. According to the civil lawsuit filed against Blackwater by Saadoon's family, Moonen was drunk when he shot and killed Saadoon "for no reason." 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. When Slatten was tried for a third time, the jury deliberated for five days before finding him guilty of first-degree murder in December 2018. According to Courthouse News Service, they also stated that Slough, Heard, and Liberty should also be re-sentenced "because their 30-year prison terms were too long" and constituted "cruel and unusual punishment.". No!" ", Ahmed "was my first baby boy," he said. [48] According to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice promised a "fair and transparent" investigation into the incident. And after the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003, Blackwater won a $25 million contract to provide security for L. Paul Bremer, an American diplomat who led the transitional government following the invasion. Even General David Petraeus and former ambassador Ryan Crocker, top officials in charge of Iraq policy at the time of the massacre, issued a joint statement called the pardons "hugely damaging, an action that tells the world that Americans abroad can commit the most heinous crimes with impunity.". In an instant, Ahmed was shot through the head. A burnt car at the site where Blackwater guards opened fire on a crowd in Baghdad, Iraq, in 2007. (Iraqi police) or any of the local security forces fired back at them", the official continued. [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. Sign up for the VE Newsletter https://www.vigilanceelite.com/newsletterErik Prince is an American businessman, former U.S. Navy SEAL officer,and . In other cases, investigations don't even get off the ground, because of lack of political will, limits in the extraterritorial reach of US criminal laws, and the absence of investigative units on the ground. He spent the next three days in the hospital and underwent major surgery on his right arm, which was fractured by a bullet. - Asser Institute (Decision Date: 31 December 2009)", "Ex-Blackwater Guards Face Renewed Charges", "Blackwater guards face new U.S. charges for Iraq shooting deaths", "Legal questions loom in Blackwater convictions", "Blackwater guards found guilty in Iraq shootings", "Emails Reveal Discord Over Blackwater Charges", "Ex-Blackwater Guards Sentenced to Long Prison Terms in 2007 Killings of Iraqi Civilians", "U.S. Appeals Court Tosses Ex-Blackwater Guard's Conviction in 2007 Baghdad Massacre", "Murder conviction in Blackwater case thrown out, other sentences overturned", "In Blackwater Case, Court Rejects a Murder Conviction and Voids 3 Sentences", Recent Case: D.C.