Blackwater Shot Down in Federal Court

[kpete]

Blackwater Shot Down in Federal Court
Jeremy Scahill

In a major blow to one of the most infamous war profiteers operating in Iraq, Afghanistan and New Orleans, a federal appeals court has ruled that a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the mercenary firm Blackwater USA can proceed in North Carolina's state courts. The suit was brought by the families of the four Blackwater contractors ambushed and killed in Falluja, Iraq on March 31, 2004. Blackwater had tried to have the case dismissed or moved to federal court.

"I've been bawling ever since I've heard the decision," says Katy Helvenston, whose son Scott was killed in Falluja, his charred body hung from a bridge. "It's been overwhelming. I am so glad that they ruled this way. Blackwater has stalled and stalled. Look at the hundreds of millions of dollars in profits in Iraq and New Orleans they've made since my son was killed. It's time to go to trial and let the chips fall where they may."

The lawsuit, filed in January 2005, alleges that Blackwater cut corners in the interest of profits, leading to the brutal deaths of the four men: Scott Helvenston, Jerko "Jerry" Zovko, Mike Teague and Wes Batalona. "It has now been more than a year and a half since the lawsuit was filed, and Blackwater has managed to stall and frustrate the litigation," Marc Miles, an attorney for the families, told me. "I anticipate that this matter will now be on a fast track to trial, and believe that a jury will ultimately find Blackwater liable for its wrongful conduct in causing the deaths of these four Americans."

more at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060911/blackwater_shot_down

[patrice]

1. I've been wondering about this. n/t

[Blue_Tires]

2. tip of the iceberg

[saigon68]

3. It's a rose petal parade

[Vincardog]

4. Cry me a river for the families of MERCENARIES killed due to their own

stupid actions. You do remember that these are the cowboys that percipitated Falluja being destroyed, RIGHT?

[lonestarnot]

6. Can you really tell a 5 year old something like this?

[Vincardog]

9. Why should I tell a 5 year old anything? Is the 5 YO party to the suit?

[lonestarnot]

11. I don't even know if there is a 5 year old in the "family," but if there

was, I don't think I could tell a 5 year old this, and I hate Blackwater motherfuckers.

[musette_sf]

10. Dad made his choices

maybe he should have thought about the 5 year old when he signed up for the Soldiers Of Fortune.

[lonestarnot]

12. You are right about that for sure, but we're now talking after the fact.

[Vincardog]

13. It was wrong to sign up to be a MERCENARY before the fact.

What is it that you are trying to discuss?

[lonestarnot]

16. The five year old.

[Vincardog]

19. The five year old that does not exist? WTF? You make up a 5 YO and want to

talk about it?
My point was that the mercenaries deserve no sympathy.
I am glad that Blackwell is going down.
You want to make up a 5 year old and talk about them. WHY?

[lonestarnot]

22. Ugh are you leaving out the fact that the Plaintiffs in the case are

remaining family members? The fucking mercenaries are dead.

[Vincardog]

23. Some body created those fucking mercenaries I suspect some

deficiency in the family. Why were they willing to go kill for MONEY?
If you are claiming they went for some higher good, Why did they not join the military?

[rman]

34. Why do you insist on blaming those families?

[Vincardog]

38. I just said I will not shed any tears for mercenaries or their families

Then some one wanted to talk about a 5 year old that didn't exist.
Then someone wanted to point out that it was the families that were suing.
My point is that when you put yourself into a dangerous spot, like a war zone, you assume the risk.
When you do it for money you are demonstrating your lack of moral compass.
If your family raised you to be a moral degenerate they do not deserve my pity.

[musette_sf]

40. hear hear

when one of my exes got offered a job in Saudi, i told him "no way". it was not worth putting him at risk in a volatile region.

the families' time to speak up was long ago. like back when the guys were entertaining the job offer.

[rman]

42. That's quite an assumption to make;

that these families raised their kinds to be moral degenerates.
Thank god there's more than just your pity to go around.

[Vincardog]

44. I will let God judge them by their actions.

[rman]

46. it seems you have passed judgment already

[Vincardog]

47. Why are you defending Mercenaries and their families? What is your problem

with me not pitying them?

[rman]

48. As i've pointed out

elsewhere in the thread: "so you're not shedding tears over this, who cares?"

Why do persist in lumping the mercenaries and their families together?
What makes you think it is not possible to not defend the mercenaries for their career choice, while not blaming the families for it?

It's hypocritical of you to first pass judgement yourself and then to say you will let god judge them, since the latter suggests you think no-one but god should pass judgement - but still you pass judgement.

[Vincardog]

49. "so you're not shedding tears over this, who cares?" it seems you do

Why are you kicking this dead horse? I insist on lumping the families of mercenaries in with the mercenaries because they raised the mercenaries.
Mercenaries are those who wage war and kill for money and are the lowest form of life.

The question is "Why are you defending them?"

[Cocoa]

18. no, I don't remember that

please provide a link that shows what exactly these four men "percipitated" in.

[Vincardog]

21. IT was on the NEWZ. You remember the wall to wall coverage right?

Why do you think we leveled the town?

[Cocoa]

24. that happened in November 2004

these four men were killed in the Spring of 2004.

[Vincardog]

25. Check out post #17

[Cocoa]

26. that article is sympathetic to Helveston, et al

it says nothing about the four men "destroying Fallujah."

Where did you get that, about them participating in destroying Fallujah?

[Vincardog]

31. percipitated

[JHB]

36. Precipitated, you mean.

As in "caused" or "started a clear chain of events".

I don't normally do spelling correction posts, but in this case it's possible to "correct" your spelling as "participated" (took part in), which seem to be the point of confusion above.

[Vincardog]

37. BINGO we have a winner

[JHB]

35. Here's from an article from "The Virginian-Pilot"...

...on the suit and those events:

----------------------
The U.S. Marines, who had military responsibility for the Sunni Arab heartland in and around Fallujah, knew it was a tinderbox and had been trying hard not to set it aflame. “Patient, persistent presence” was their motto.

The attack on the Blackwater convoy changed everything.

The convoy had entered the city by bypassing a Marine checkpoint without the Marines’ knowledge. The Marines learned of the ambush the same way the rest of the world did: from the grisly pictures on TV.

President Bush, enraged by the attack, ordered a major assault on the city. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, a Pentagon spokesman, said of the coming U.S. response: “It will be deliberate, it will be precise and it will be overwhelming. … We will pacify that city.”

A key objective of the assault, U.S. leaders said, was to capture the killers of the Blackwater contractors and bring them to justice.

The Blackwater incident was a tragic error that provoked a violent chain of events, according to Bing West, a former Marine and Reagan-era assistant defense secretary who wrote “No True Glory,” a book about the battle for Fallujah.

“Ultimately, Fallujah was a decision by our top leadership against the advice of the Marines,” West said in an interview. “They were not going to change their entire strategy because of a tactical error. They were overruled.”

What followed days later, in early April, was the first street-by-street fighting by U.S. military forces since the Vietnam War. As Al-Jazeera broadcast pictures of dead, bleeding and maimed Iraqis in Fallujah hospitals, the city became a rallying point for anti-U.S. anger.

Worried that the assault was jeopardizing the political stability of the country, U.S. leaders suspended the offensive a week later. The fighting settled into a series of skirmishes, flare-ups and periods of calm.
----------------------
Full article at:
http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=108113&ran=186344
(this clip is from the second page)

[rman]

33. Actually they died due to Blackwater's stupid actions -

No armored cars, no 3rd man in the back of the cars, - both contrary to common (if not mandatory) practice. I suppose Blackwater was trying to make more profit by cutting costs.

There's some argument to be made for the mercenaries themselves bearing responsibility for the risks they knew they were taking - although their employer messing up is not their fault. But to lump the families of these guys in with "the cowboys that destroyed Falluja" - you must be looking for excuses why this court case should not be supported, which is in no-ones interest except Blackwater's.

[Vincardog]

39. I detest Blackwater, I detest all corporate parasites. I have no dog in

the fight or this court case. I never said "the cowboys that destroyed Falluja"
I did say "the cowboys that precipitated the destruction of Falluja".
I hope the families win a huge case against Blackwater.

That being said I am not going to shed one single tear about these damn MERCENARIES or their families.

[rman]

43. So you're not shedding tears.

Who cares?

[Binka]

45. I Concur Vince

I hope they win over Blackwater but I am at a loss for tears over the money grubbing shits who went to Iraq seeking $$$$.

Mercenaries are MAGGOTS. Let them fucking enlist if they think the cause is just.

[tanyev]

5. Good.

There might be some interesting information coming out of a case like this.

[FUGW]

7. Dream on, they'll just say Blackwell was hired by the Iraqi gov't

so they are not covered by American law.

[lonestarnot]

8. You didn't wait and see though.

[PassingFair]

15. Well, maybe BETSY DEVOS'S BROTHER,

ERIK PRINCE, who OWNS Blackwater will get dragged
into it during this election year for her zombie
of a husband who's running for governor here.

http://www.mediamouse.org/features/051904betsy.php

Shine the light. Shine the light.......

[lonestarnot]

20. That would be a good thing... no?

[ShortnFiery]

41. Yes, hit the War Profiteering Companies where it hurts them most ...

In their BELOVED Bank Accounts. Although the individual four men made their personal choices, I would be happy for their families to get MILLIONS if it would be less profit for the USA Corporate Mercenaries R US, one each, "Blackwell, Inc." ;)

[vanboggie]

32. AMEN!! n/t

[Nikki Stone 1]

14. Needs one more kick for Greatest Page

Please...

[ConcernedCanuk]

17. Erik Prince, position Blackwater as a patriotic extension of the military

.
.
.

Blood Is Thicker Than Blackwater

"It is one of the most infamous incidents of the war in Iraq: On March 31, 2004, four private American security contractors get lost and end up driving through the center of Falluja, a hotbed of Sunni resistance to the US occupation. Shortly after entering the city, they get stuck in traffic, and their small convoy is ambushed. Several armed men approach the two vehicles and open fire from behind, repeatedly shooting the men at point-blank range. Within moments, their bodies are dragged from the vehicles and a crowd descends on them, tearing them to pieces. Eventually, their corpses are chopped and burned. The remains of two of the men are strung up on a bridge over the Euphrates River and left to dangle. The gruesome image is soon beamed across the globe.

In the Oval Office the killings were taken as "a challenge to America's resolve," according to the Los Angeles Times. President Bush issued a statement through his spokesperson. "We will not be intimidated," he said. "We will finish the job." Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt vowed, "We will be back in Falluja.... We will hunt down the criminals.... It's going to be deliberate. It will be precise, and it will be overwhelming." Within days of the ambush, US forces laid siege to Falluja, beginning what would be one of the most brutal and sustained US operations of the occupation.

For most people, the gruesome killings were the first they had ever heard of Blackwater USA, a small, North Carolina-based private security company. Since the Falluja incident, and also because of it, Blackwater has emerged as one of the most successful and profitable security contractors operating in Iraq. The company and its secretive, mega-millionaire, right-wing Christian founder, Erik Prince, position Blackwater as a patriotic extension of the US military, and its employees are required to take an oath of loyalty to the Constitution. After the killings, Blackwater released a statement saying the "heinous mistreatment of our friends exhibits the extraordinary conditions under which we voluntarily work to bring freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people.... Our tasks are dangerous and while we feel sadness for our fallen colleagues, we also feel pride and satisfaction that we are making a difference for the people of Iraq."

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060508/scahill

Sumtimes too much information can be depressing . .

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[alarimer]

29. Are you posting this crap in every thread?

Just a bit off topic here by the way.

[countingbluecars]

30. Horseshit.

[alarimer]

28. I heard about this on Democracy Now

The company really is responsible for their deaths. Sure they may have been mercenaries but Blackwater is trying to cover up what they did. The Nations also covered this extensively.