WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Justice Department prosecutors asked a federal judge on Friday to dismiss the charges against one of five Blackwater security guards accused of killing 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians in a 2007 shooting in Baghdad. In a brief court notice, prosecutors said they filed a motion to dismiss the indictment against Nicholas Slatten of Sparta, Tennessee, but they also said they requested the ability to possibly refile the charges later. Slatten was one of five men charged in... Read Full Story
FBI scientists were unable to match bullets from a deadly 2007 Baghdad shooting to guns carried by Blackwater Worldwide security guards, according to laboratory reports that leave open the possibility that insurgents also fired in the crowded intersection. Five Blackwater guards face manslaughter and weapons charges for their role in the shooting, which left 17 Iraqis dead and inflamed anti-U.S. sentiment abroad. Prosecutors say the contractors launched an unprovoked attack on civilians with... Read Full Story
Some Iraqis wounded in the September 2007 shootout by guards for the former Blackwater Worldwide security firm are angry the company will continue work in Iraq longer than previously thought. Hassan Jabir, a lawyer hit by gunfire in the deadly melee, says he is outraged at the Iraqi government for not taking a harder stance against the company, now known as Xe, which is pronounced 'zee.' Another Iraqi, Sami Hawas Hamoud Abu al-Iz, is demanding Iraqi authorities bring charges against the... Read Full Story
Four former executives described the plan under the condition of anonymity, the newspaper said. Iraqis had long complained about ground operations by the North Carolina-based company, now known as Xe Corp. Then the shooting by Blackwater guards in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square in September 2007 left 17 civilians dead, further strained relations between Baghdad and Washington and led US prosecutors to bring charges against the Blackwater contractors involved. Read Full Story
AP - The Pentagon wrote in 2007 that Blackwater Worldwide contractors in Iraq are not subject to U.S. civilian criminal laws. That position undercuts the Justice Department's effort to prosecute five Blackwater security guards for manslaughter. Read Full Story
I want to take a moment and say this is not a normal story I would write about for fantasy hunting. Before I begin this story I want you to take everything out of your head that you know about Blackwater . This story only pertains to my background in the understanding of what it takes to start a company. Also I am not associated with Blackwater nor do I know anyone from there. About 4 years ago I tried starting a manufacturing company and I lost everything. My kids never new it because for... Read Full Story
Among the many tragedies of Bush’s war in Iraq was allowing private contractors to function as a government unto themselves who were not subject to either Iraqi or American law. Finally, federal prosecutors were charged with the killing and wounding of a few dozen innocent Iraqi civilians last September. The five men face 14 counts of manslaughter and 20 counts of attempted manslaughter. The killings occurred as guards were protecting a convoy of American diplomats through the streets of... Read Full Story
BAGHDAD, Jan. 29 (UPI) --
The U.S. State Department is reviewing options since Iraq denied security firm Blackwater Worldwide's operating license, a department spokesman said Thursday.
State Department spokesman Robert Wood said in Washington.
Iraq rejected an operating license request by the security firm Blackwater Worldwide, an interior ministry official said Thursday.
In Baghdad, an interior ministry spokesman told CNN Blackwater was denied its request for an operating license in... Read Full Story
Blackwater Worldwide was involved in the shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians last year, should be dismissed by the US Government, an advisory panel to the State Department said yesterday. In a report commissioned by Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, the panel called for Blackwater’s contract not to be renewed when it expires next year, leaving the decision of what to do with the security firm to President-elect Barack Obama. Dr Rice ordered a review last September of the State... Read Full Story
Audit Finds That U.S. Overpaid Blackwater By YOCHI J. DREAZEN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL http://tinyurl.com/n2taqo WASHINGTON -- A government audit found that the State Department overpaid the contract-security firm once known as Blackwater Worldwide by tens of millions of dollars because the company failed to properly staff its teams in Iraq. The report didn't identify any specific security breaches, but it said the State Department should have withheld at least $55 million in payments to the... Read Full Story
