Blackwater seeks dismissal of Iraq shooting suit

[sabra]

Source: WP/AP

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The security firm formerly known as Blackwater told a federal judge Thursday that the U.S. government - and not the company - should be held accountable for a 2007 shooting by its contractors that killed 17 Iraqis.

The Moyock, N.C.-based company and several of its contractors are seeking the dismissal of a lawsuit that was filed on behalf of three people killed in the shooting - Ali Kinani, Abrahem Abed Al Mafraje and Mahde Sahab Naser Shamake. It accuses the parties of wrongful death and negligence, and seeks punitive damages.

Lawyers for the company, now known as Xe Services, argued in court that Blackwater contractors were essentially acting as employees of the U.S. government because they were providing security to State Department personnel.

Unlike duties performed by other contractors, the sensitive nature of providing security in a war zone required the kind of oversight the government normally reserves for its own employees, attorney Andrew Pincus argued.

"This isn't food service, where we can sort of leave it to the chefs," he said.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/16/AR2010121606064.html

[midnight]

1. Hmmm.... Will the DOJ take the responsibility for this?

[Matariki]

2. I'm sure they do.

I'm sure every criminal seeks dismissal of their crimes. It's just that most of them don't have the money, political influence, and possibly the blackmail bartering power of Blackwater.

And I'd also like to add: Assholes.

[Angry Dragon]

3. Get rid of the private armies

[luwik]

4. Convoluted issue

"On March 31, 2004, four men working for Blackwater USA as security guards -- Scott Helvenston, Wesley Batalona, Jerry Zovko and Michael Teague -- were ambushed by insurgents in Fallujah. They were killed, their bodies burned and mutilated, and two were strung up on a bridge over the Euphrates."

Seems to be the issue the Blackwater company and Xe service are trying to raise is whether the contractors are employees of the U.S. government or private.

"And contractually, Blackwater was to supply two SUVs with three guards per vehicle. Instead, the men set out that morning with just two men per car, each short a rear gunner"

Hard to say the Government is culpable for every action private contractors perform. The military would have taken precautionary measures to ensure the safety if they had any involvement.. But hey my opinion is not fact!

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/warriors/contractors/highrisk.html

[jotsy]

5. A nine year old boy lost his life at Nisoor Square.

These trigger happy fools murdered more than a dozen people and injured three times as many during this single incident. The slimy little worm at the head of this monstrosity testified before congress a month beforehand. Over the summer of this year, This rebranded corporate entity was award over $100 million in contracts from the State Department. We let banks steal homes from law abiding citizens but give pathological homicide prone privileged piss ant like Prince millions upon millions for murdering babies. I don't want whoever thinks of this as sensible making decisions for me.

<http://www.thenation.com/video/36662/government-hasnt-learned-blackwater-mistakes>

Check Jeremy Scahill's piece, Blackwater's Youngest Victim
<http://www.thenation.com/article/blackwaters-youngest-victim>

[Mnemosyne]

6. A horrific nightmare that 'triggered' the contractor hangings, which turned Fallujah

into a one gigantic war crime scene when we attacked later in retaliation. Something was terrible wrong with the look of the dead after our, uh, massacre just seems a minuscule comparison for what the US did to the people of Fallujah.