Breaking NYT: F.B.I. Says Guards Killed 14 Iraqis Without Cause

[kpete]

F.B.I. Says Guards Killed 14 Iraqis Without Cause

By DAVID JOHNSTON and JOHN M. BRODER
Published: November 14, 2007

WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 — Federal agents investigating the Sept. 16 episode in which Blackwater security personnel shot and killed 17 Iraqi civilians have found that at least 14 of the shootings were unjustified and violated deadly-force rules in effect for security contractors in Iraq, according to civilian and military officials briefed on the case.

The F.B.I. investigation into the fatal shootings in Baghdad is still under way, but the findings, which indicate that the company’s employees recklessly used lethal force, are already under review by the Justice Department.

Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to seek indictments, and some officials have expressed pessimism that adequate criminal laws exist to enable them to charge any Blackwater employee with criminal wrongdoing. Spokesmen for the Justice Department and the F.B.I. declined to discuss the matter.

The case could be one of the first thorny issues to be decided by Michael B. Mukasey, who was sworn in as attorney general last week. He may be faced with a decision to turn down a prosecution on legal grounds at a time when a furor has erupted in Congress about the administration’s failure to hold security contractors accountable for their misdeeds.

more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/14/world/middleeast/14blackwater.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

[Horse with no Name]

1. Why is Blackwater being thrown under the bus?

This is starting to be a tad bit frightening.:scared:

I think they are despicable, evil, unconscionable...etc...but they have done this shit all along.
WHY are they NOW being thrown under the bus?

[NC_Nurse]

3. Good question.

It does seem kind of weird...

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

4. There's no evidence they're being thrown under the bus.. we still have no indication that anyone

will actually be charged or prosecuted for these many wrongful deaths.

[zabet]

5. Perhaps

Blackwater is too big to control and this
is a solution to get them out of the picture
or to rein them in a little.

[rwheeler31]

7. I didn't do it Mommy he did it .

[rwheeler31]

8. They will protect Bush no matter who goes down.

[Ikonoklast]

11. There is NO LOVE from the professional military

for the mercenary forces in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Lots of resentment from regular Army toward mercs able to operate above any recognized code of military conduct, and were forced by hard-liners like Rumsfeld to let them operate with impunity.

[babylonsister]

12. Maybe even the FBI is tired of this admin and these faux 'soldiers'?

I can wish.

[seafan]

15. Because, perhaps, Blackwater is going to Mexico for another Bush *Narco-Terrorism War*

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2253019&mesg_id=2253019

[mod mom]

2. Will the FBI place Blackwater on the terrorist list?

[City Lights]

26. Or, maybe Blackwater will place the FBI on the terra list.

:scared:

[spanone]

6. do they have immunity? medal of freedom?

"Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to seek indictments, and some officials have expressed pessimism that adequate criminal laws exist to enable them to charge any Blackwater employee with criminal wrongdoing."
~snip~

isn't MURDER an adequate criminal law????????

[Horse with no Name]

10. My guess?

Someone needs to take blame for the fiasco that IS Iraq.
So, Blackwater steps up and does it(for billions of OUR bucks)....gets immunity, then subcontracts to a bunch of "Baby-Blackwater" companies that they have financial interest in.
It is basically having their cake and eating it too.
Mercenary companies don't necessarily have to have stellar public reputations.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. talk about conflict - it should be on greatest page - but what a topic.

what a filthy, disgusting, bloody, horrific topic.

[babylonsister]

13. Rec'd for disgust! nt

[pinto]

14. Good. At a minimum, Blackwater needs to be investigated and

those responsible held accountable.

Kick and rec.

[AuntPatsy]

16. At this point in time we can only hope justice might find its way back into

this country's government, to be honest, I don't have much faith it will.

[Lint Head]

17. Blackwater is a fascist organization that needs to be boycotted and

bankrupted. Waffen SS are just that Nazis! :dem:

[Disturbed]

18. "Guards Killed 14 Iraqis Without Cause."

I wonder why the name "Black Water" was not placed in that Headline.

[bluesmail]

19. may be it has to do with new AG

He is allowing clearances into the wiretap biz. Just a I Wonder If...

[L. Coyote]

22. Bush had to authorize the clearances, so don't expect much there.

And, the investigation by the FBI was underway before Mukasey. The real story is the State Dept. giving immunity to the murderers.

[scarface2004]

20. so murder is ok?!?!?!

where do i sign???

[bluesmail]

21. Well as a matter of fact, Yes. n/t

[L. Coyote]

23. In the Neo Con Reality, where every political enemy is a terrorist.

[burythehatchet]

24. yoo hooooo .... eriKKKK

[Monk06]

25. They ain't white. They ain't American. They ain't Fundie and they ain't Repug. So it's A-OK

[LibertyorDeath]

27. Hundreds of Thousands

Hundreds of Thousands of Iraqis are dead

for Oil or control of oil....

Iraqi Children, Women and Men

Hundreds of Thousands.

[me b zola]

28. Remember how this story first got told on tv news?

When this story first broke the television coverage reported "blackwater's side" to the story, saying that "al Qaeda" had attacked the caravan with a car bomb, and they accompanied the story with video showing a burning car and "evidence" that something had blown up. The way that the media showed that video it lead (the uncritical) watcher to believe blackwater's story that they had been under attack. All I could think was that I wasn't taking their word that the explosion had been caused by Iraqis, or even that that footage had been shot that day of that event.

From the article:

Investigators found no evidence to support assertions by Blackwater employees that they were fired upon by Iraqi civilians. That finding sharply contradicts initial assertions by Blackwater officials, who said that company employees fired in self-defense and that three company vehicles were damaged by gunfire.

It sounds like blackwater pulled one over on the media by providing it's own (apparently fabricated)video. Who's going to call the media out for this?

[Disturbed]

29. Only Keith O. would do that.

No other media person would dare to do so.

[Warren Stupidity]

30. "Killed ... without cause".

Oh, so they committed murder. So then those responsible will be charged accordingly. Oh wait, it turns out that our mercenaries are under 'no legal authority' and cannot be charged by US or Iraqi authorities with anything.

"some officials have expressed pessimism that adequate criminal laws exist to enable them to charge any Blackwater employee with criminal wrongdoing"

This isn't even a question. This is a fact.