Murderous Xe Services* (Blackwater) Thugs Get Off ... Aren't They "Enemy Combatants"?

[laststeamtrain]

Murderous Xe Services* (Blackwater) Thugs Get Off ... Aren't They "Enemy Combatants"?
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet
Posted on January 1, 2010, Printed on January 1, 2010
http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/www.alternet.org/144900/

The big problem trying international terrorists in civilian courts is that they might get off.

WaPo:

"A federal judge dismissed charges against five Blackwater Worldwide security guards accused of killing 14 Iraqi civilians in a controversial shooting in a busy Baghdad square two years ago in a ruling that sharply criticized the tactics of Justice Department prosecutors handling the case.

"The judge, Ricardo M. Urbina of the District's federal court, found that prosecutors and agents had improperly used statements that the guards provided to the State Department in the hours and days after the shooting. The statements had been given with the understanding that they would not be used against the guards in court, the judge found, and federal prosecutors improperly used them to help guide their investigation. Urbina said other Justice Department lawyers had warned the prosecutors to tread carefully around the incriminating statements."

So, the protections built into our justice system appear to have let a group of rogue mercenaries who opened fire without provocation on Iraqis in a busy urban thorough-fare off the hook. Interesting reality, given that the entire occupation of Iraq was an illegal act.

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http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/144900/murderous_xe_services%2A_%28blackwater%29_thugs_get_off_..._aren%27t_they_%26quot%3Benemy_combatants%26quot%3B_

[Subdivisions]

1. Of course the charges were dismissed. Duh. n/t

[Black-Eyed Susan]

2. Justice for the powerful

and for the allies of The State. You and I get caught stealing a loaf of bread if we're homeless and hungry and we would get cooked. Scales of justice and all that:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_8IkUmvk2JSg/SA38lRueP6I/AAAAAAAAAL4/4ufoRIkujKY/s320/Scales+of+Injustice1.gif

[MadMaddie]

3. The previous administration ensured that these criminals would

get off by bungling evidence.

Here is the real travesty, in Iraq the U.S. military and contractors are now going to be higher value targets then they were. It is clear to the Iraqi's and the world that the U.S. will not hold U.S. criminals accountable for their actions. * exporting of Repug values of murder and mayhem at any cost will cost the U.S.

This is not a good thing.

[Lint Head]

4. Now they can kill and torture with impunity and nobody can do a damn

thing about it!


Imagine this over your home. Who will they kill next? When will Xe privatize torture?
Speak out now. End corporate rights!

[HillbillyBob]

5. I do not have to imagine.

I recall the derision that some folks were subject to when they said the had seen these choppers.
Well I live about 40 min flight time west of their Mynock base, and
I have had my home buzzed by fully armed bells and blackhawks fly over.
Several months after having our rental in town searched by feds while we were not at home. Our neighbors told us that the folks that ransacked our home were driving 'unmarked' crown vickys with govt tags. No warrant no notice and they left the door standing open.
It all goes back to witnessing ballot shredding in fla.
To shorten the narrative we moved from the rental to a place we had bought
cheap, then several days after the flights started, and ran a couple of times a week until (*) left the WH.
These choppers were in flights of 5 to 7 birds, armed with sidewinder missiles , 50mm cannon and 20mm machine guns.
I am former military, though it was 25 yrs ago I recognize the armament, I got a good look on several occasions when I was on the roof doing repairs. I live in rural North Carolina.

We are in danger from our own so called government of 'we the people'.

[merh]

6. They are acting in a military capacity, they should be subjected

to the UMCJ and be tried by a military tribunal.