Iraqis: Put Blackwater Guards on Trial

[Hissyspit]

Source: Associated Press

Iraqis: Put Blackwater guards on trial
By STEVEN R. HURST and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writers

BAGHDAD - The official Iraqi investigation into last month's Blackwater shooting has been submitted to the government and recommends the security guards face trial in Iraqi courts, and that the company pay compensation to the victims, an Iraqi government minister told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The three-member panel, led by Defense Minister Abdul-Qader al-Obeidi, finished its work earlier this week and submitted the report and recommendations to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Tuesday, the government minister told AP on condition he not be identified by name.

The minister said the report was issued under the signatures of al-Obeidi, Maj. Gen. Tariq al-Baldawi, the deputy minister of national security; and Maj. Gen. Hussein Ali Kamal, the deputy interior minister for intelligence and security affairs.

The cabinet minister said the report determined that 13 Iraqi civilians — not 11 as originally reported — were killed when Blackwater USA guards sprayed western Baghdad's Nisoor Square with gunfire Sept. 16. The investigation maintained, as Iraqi authorities have throughout, that the Blackwater guards had not been fired on when they unleashed the fusillade. It said no shots were fired at Blackwater personnel throughout.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071004/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_blackwater

[maddezmom]

1. so where are the guards now

back in the US?

[saigon68]

2. Throw a Rose Petal parade for them

LOL

[maddezmom]

3. not me

feel free if you want :shrug:

[Kagemusha]

4. Interesting how the Iraqi security forces just sat and did nothing.

"It said no shots were fired at Blackwater personnel throughout." So they just let the Americans massacre their own people in front of them and didn't fire back out of feeling threatened or trying to protect their own people. Interesting claim.

[951-Riverside]

5. Had they fired on those blackwater thugs the story would be quite different....

The Iraqi forces made the right choice.

[Kagemusha]

6. Provided that is the truth.

I'll not make the mistake of believing every non-merc just because they're not mercs.