Psssssssssssssst! Former Blackwater guards sentenced in 'staggering' massacre of unarmed Iraqis

[malaise]

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/13/former-blackwater-guards-sentencing-baghdad-massacre
<snip>
Three former employees of the US private military contractor once known as Blackwater were sentenced to 30 years in prison on Monday and a fourth received a life sentence, closing a sordid chapter of the Iraq conflict relating to the 2007 Nisour Square massacre in Baghdad.

Judge Royce Lamberth denied a request by the defense for leniency in sentencing on Monday, and, as expected, his sentences followed the 30-year mandatory sentence guidelines for the crimes.

The four, who were part of a tactical support team called “Raven 23”, opened fire on a crowd of unarmed civilians from an armoured convoy with machine-guns and grenade launchers in September 2007.
US jury convicts Blackwater guards in 2007 killing of Iraqi civilians
Read more

In October 2014, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard were found guilty of 13 charges of voluntary manslaughter and 17 charges of attempted manslaughter, while Nicholas Slatten, the team’s sniper who was the first to open fire, was convicted on a separate charge of first-degree murder.
------------------------------
This is great news.

[JanMichael]

1. also notice that they all still proclaim innocence? one even said he was serving his country.

Like he was in the military. ...?....

[rhett o rick]

2. Excellent point. Bastards weren't in the miliatary. They were paid assassins and

deserve more than "voluntary manslaughter".

[malaise]

3. Fugging mercenaries

Nothing more than hired killers

[world wide wally]

42. So whataboutthe guy who hired them?

I think hisname was Dick ..... Cheney.

[heaven05]

46. get out of jail 'free' card

Last edited Tue Apr 14, 2015, 12:16 PM - Edit history (1)

never will serve a day behind bars because he was one of the 'leaders of the free world protecting our ability to drive huge SUV's. A million+ died because of lies. Now how's that for...ahhh what's the use. The quest for white male supremacy, corporate dominance and proving american exceptionalism takes precedent over ANY life, domestically and internationally at any time.

[chapdrum]

50. Company was allowed to change its name

at least twice: First Xe, then Academi. Any blowback on its CEO? Evidently not.
"[O]ur ability to drive huge SUV's" indeed. Unrelated (sorry), but since we know that carbon emissions are
um driving climate change, nonetheless huge SUV's are still manufactured.
Another Groundhog Day.

[quakerboy]

55. Still dying, no less

ISIS is a direct result of the Bush Invasion. I suspect that there are other conflicts in the region where we will eventually learn of a direct causation relationship as well.

[bvar22]

61. "A million+ died because of lies"

Thats not up there with Pol Pot or Stalin,
but "over a million" will certainly put him in the elite class of Mass Murders.

[drynberg]

52. Eric Prince was the head of blackwater...he should be their roomy.

[world wide wally]

54. When Cheney was Secretary of Defense under Bush !, he initiated the privatization of the military in

every possible way he could. Upon leaving office, he was rewarded by Haliburton when the made him a CEO in spite of not one day of experience in the business world.
So, it eventually works its way back to him.

[LarryNM]

24. Gott mit Uns eom

[freshwest]

4. Tears in my eyes! Justice at last! Thanks Rangel, Conyers, Obama, Biden, Holder! I'll sleep better!

[malaise]

7. This should be huge news

fThe silence on TV is deafening

[freshwest]

11. MIC media loved the carnage of Iraq. And is full of contractor propaganda. They can GTH... n/t

[riderinthestorm]

17. NPR had a big story about it today. Top of the hour as well. They didn't bury it at least

[sabrina 1]

27. Media is owned by Corporations who make money from WAR. This has taken far too long, but better

late than never.

I remember one family who lost a beautiful mother and daughter when these murderers went on their rampage.

The mom was a doctor. She was very close to her young daughter. She was driving her to college I believe, when they drove into the carnage that took their lives.

The father/husband was DEVASTATED. We offered him some money, the usual small payment.

He was insulted, to think the lives of his beloved wife and daughter could be dismissed with money.

He wanted justice. He refused the money.

His life changed forever, and by invaders from a foreign land who told him 'we are bringing you democracy'.

This is just ONE of many, many murderous rampages which took so many innocent lives. Few if any, will ever get justice.

And that is why I do not support anyone who voted for this massive crime.

True justice would mean prosecuting the War Criminals who are responsible for the years of killings and torture they inflicted on the people of Iraq.

[malaise]

29. Excellent post

It's amazing that we wonder why they hate us and why their resistance folks are retaliating against anyone from these parts.

I agree that it should be Bush, Cheney et al who were sentenced today

[robbob]

51. What was that great cartoon posted here?

Things Iranians know about America vs. things Americans know about Iran? Great mini-history in cartoon form regarding US involvement in the region, from overthrowing a democratically elected government to supplying Iraq with chemical weapons.

If that cartoon could go viral maybe a few more Americans would pull their heads out of their asses and start thinking about what is done in their names around the world.

[malaise]

57. 100% correct

[heaven05]

47. +1000

[ieoeja]

49. It was on ABC news last night. It was on local news this morning.

[Hekate]

21. +10000. I've never forgotten, & BushCheney is the cause of this shame.Some justice is coming at last

...and the ones you named are the cause of this partial redemption.

[freshwest]

23. Yes, for that brief period when the Dems held House majority they documented the crimes.

And Biden went to Iraq to get more information. And Obama's AG Holder worked it until a tiny measure of justice was done.

This is why they spent time on documenting instead of trying to get BushCo in the Hague. I was in touch with people in Canada and Europe who were trying to get them to consider it and they went through the process.

But the ICC refused to do so. Then I hear all this caterwauling about what coulda, shoulda, woulda from people who didn't follow this thing very closely.

This is like so much Obama has done, opening the eyes of the world to lasting peace. It takes the right person at the helm to do this. It'd never happen under Romney.

His cabinet was going to be all BushCo. We can't let them stop disclosures from coming now.

[malaise]

30. +1,000

Excellent post

[freshwest]

34. Thanks malaise. Have a good morning, still night time here. n/t

[malaise]

36. Thanks

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. excellent

[spanone]

6. i posted this a few hours ago and it sAnk like a stone....

BIG FUCKING NEWS!!!!!!!!

K&R...

[malaise]

8. Let me fnd it and give it a right fugging kick

[spanone]

9. naw, let's run with this 'un....

but here it is anyway....3 recs and no comments.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026501264

[malaise]

10. I kicked it anyway

nadinbrzezinski has a good link as well.

[freshwest]

13. Nice job on that one. Gave it a rec. n/t

[Hissyspit]

63. I noticed that, too.

[pinboy3niner]

16. Shoulda put a red arrow on it...

[spanone]

53. bwahahahahahaaaa!!!!

[Hissyspit]

62. I noticed that.

[99Forever]

12. Should have gotten 30 years on each count...

... to served consecutively.

[Diclotican]

14. malaise

malaise

Great - that they finally got some justice - and was punished with prison time... 30 years in prison should maybe teach him some about what he really did - when he killed Iraqi civilians..

I do remember - back when it happened - how horrible it was - and how conservatives - and outright Republicans supported it - and was calling it heroism - and that US should use more of them - to execute this horrible iraqis who stepped in the way of the Xe - or Black water as it was known then.... Many of them was even Ex military who was bragging about how they should have teach the messy Iraqis a lesson - if they had been there... Some even was writing that if they was able, would got a leave of abstain from their current jobs - and work for Black water in Iraq - and was over them self in dreaming about what they would do....

Now that forum is dead - got lost when Norway was attacked in 2011, by a madman from the far right - even though he was arrested, convicted and is serving a life sentence - the forum was closed down in the backlash from that thing - and all the information erased - officially because the newspaper who owned the forum - needed the hard rive space.. But it could have been saved - as it was at least a decade full of information - from all form of life and professions - and many had used many hours making the forum a livable place - some even was getting along in real life

Anyway - I think a few of the ones who was most in support of Black water - might have had another tune to sing now - when the ones who did this - is looking at 30 years behind bars - because they murdered iraqi civilians.... Even though they will still be dead now - at least some justice is served by this....

Diclotican

[malaise]

31. Interesting

Didn't even know about that forum

[Diclotican]

38. malaise

malaise

It was a forum, for the most part written by Norwegians - and a few english spoken now and then - but it was mostly a Norwegian spoken/written forum - in fact, at a time it was the largest forum for discussing everything under the sun in the whole of Norway.... Today another forum - on VG, VGD, is one of the largest forums who is used to discuss everything and nothing... So I would not be surprised it was not on your radar to be honest - Norwegian is a small language - even if we think about it as the center of the universe

Diclotican

[C Moon]

15. I'm sure if the GOP ever gets someone in the White House, they will find a way to pardon them.

If it's possible. Admittedly, I don't know the law on that.

[aikoaiko]

18. A long time coming, but at least it came.

I hope this eases some of the pain of the victims.

[quakerboy]

19. a few questions

Why are they not serving their sentences in an Iraqi Jail?

What about the people who trained them to do this? And, a step further, I feel confident that as well as providing them improper instruction which led them to believe this was acceptable behavior, their superiors have probably pulled many strings trying to hide the event and later to prevent justice from reaching these men.

How does this effect the ability of the Blackwater corp, whatever its current name, to get contracts from the US government?

[malaise]

32. Great questions n/t

[sharkmeister]

20. Kinda sick

They make a big show of giving these four severe sentences and ignore the dozens (hundreds?) of other instances where Blackwater thugs opened fire on unarmed Iraqis.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

48. Hopefully they at least tried to get them to rat out their higher-ups.

[calimary]

22. Aw man - sometimes there is justice.

This was just hideous.

[JEB]

25. I guess this means

they won't be cops for awhile. So much waste, lives, blood, money, moral standing: all down the drain.

[FairWinds]

26. The lesson to take away from this . .

is that the privatization of war is a seriously bad idea.

This message brought to you by Veterans For Peace.

[DashOneBravo]

28. I agree

It's good that these guys are going to pay for their actions.

[malaise]

33. Looks like they're now privatiing the police

in Oklahoma

[kelliekat44]

40. Right on!!! nt

[KansDem]

39. The CEOs need to be arrested and tried, too

If CorpAmerica is so hot to privatize public concerns and services, including the military, then the CEOs need to share in the responsibility.

[1939]

44. Since the early 60s

Robert McNamara was the leader in identifying areas where military functions could be more "cost effectively" performed by contractors. This was accelerated in Vietnam where LBJ and, later, Nixon place numerical limits on total troop strength. To get more bang for the buck, commanders in Vietnam contracted out as many of the housekeeping and logistics jobs as possible so as to get the maximum rifle strength out of the numerical caps. After Vietnam when the drafts ended and the US went to an all volunteer army, a lot of the scut work jobs which the troops hated were contracted out (KP, grass cutting, loading and unloading, etc) to make enlistment more attractive. The army today is an "imbalanced" force with far more combat troops and an insufficient logistical tail to support them (the shortfall is made up by contractors).

[Omaha Steve]

35. They are appealing

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/21e2cd3f6f9e4d19b69e66addc2db431/ex-guards-sentenced-iraq-shootings-plan-appeal

[maindawg]

64. Please tell me they are not set free

during this appeal. They will have big money behind them to appeal.

[MerryBlooms]

37. rec & kick

[stevenleser]

41. Great news that is tempered in my mind by the belief that these are just the guys we caught and

against whom we could make a case.

There are far too may stories coming out of situations where Blackwater folks were used. Katrina, Iraq, etc.

[frazzled]

43. This is the front-page top-of-the-fold story in the NYT

So why is it getting so little attention here on DU? I'm completely mystified. It's huge that these guys were convicted—the initiator receiving a life sentence, the rest severe 30-year terms. No fog-of-war excuses here. Justice has been served. Do we care about justice far less than we care about the semiotics of logos? It would certainly seem so.

Thanks for the "Psssst." You tried. Maybe we need a great big shout instead.

[riqster]

45. Good to hear.

NPR had this on ATC yesterday.

[samsingh]

56. good

[Dont call me Shirley]

58. Eric P needs to serve a life in prison with no chance of parole along with his lackeys.

[malaise]

59. +1,000

with Bush, Cheney et al

[hifiguy]

70. Chimpy, DicKKK, Rummy, Wolfowitz and Condi

should all have been dancing at the ends of ropes in the Hague five years ago.

[jtuck004]

60. Wonder how many of our local cops were trained by these folks...

Blackwater, which changed its name to Xe Services in 2009 and then to Academi in 2011...

http://academiwatch.com/

40,000 a year through their training facility, proudly displayed with the word "police" on the side of their accessories.

And we are still paying that philosophy to live on in one form or another...

[JustAnotherGen]

65. Watch Africa that's where Erik Prince is now

And his spokesperson (Stacey DeLuke Capace Prince) will never turn against him - and one of his key attorneys can't. She (spokes person) divorced Steve (his attory) and maried Prince this past October.

Gotta and it to the guy - he can always find wys to dodge, deflect, and defer.

These people are such trash.

[Brother Buzz]

66. I thought he hung his shingle in Dubai.

[JustAnotherGen]

69. He STILL has his home in VA

He also has a home in Dubai.

I believe he also keeps an apartment in Manhattan.

He Is now Chairman of Frontier Service Group - http://www.fsgroup.com/team/erik-prince/

Based in China but doing business in Africa. He also has an investment company that also starts with Frontier.

He's been gone from Academi for a long time - no interest in that.

He moves quickly.

[Dont call me Shirley]

72. Yes, Northern Africa seems to be turning into a heap of mess these days.

[Blue Owl]

67. Sweet justice

[hue]

68. Now we hope they lose their right to appeal. It never ends...

[countryjake]

71. K&R!