Also see previous post, Intel officer: CIA officers’ deaths will be avenged where “Two of those killed were contractors with private security firm Xe, formerly known as Blackwater”
A federal judge dismissed all charges Thursday against five Blackwater Worldwide security guards accused of killing unarmed Iraqi civilians on a crowded Baghdad street in 2007.
U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina said Justice Department prosecutors improperly built their case on sworn statements that had been given under a promise of immunity. Urbina said the government’s explanations were “contradictory, unbelievable and lacking in credibility.”
The decision throws out a case steeped in international politics. The September 2007 shooting in busy Nisoor Square left 17 Iraqis dead and inflamed anti-American sentiment abroad. The Iraqi government wanted the guards to face trial in Iraq and officials there said they would closely watch how the U.S. judicial system handled the case.
[...]
The five guards had been charged with manslaughter and weapons charges. The charges carried mandatory 30-year prison terms.
It is unclear what the ruling means for a sixth Blackwater guard who turned on his former colleagues and pleaded guilty to killing one Iraqi and wounding another.
Source/Full Story: FOXNews.com
Related Items
- January 1, 2010 — Intel officer: CIA officers’ deaths will be avenged (0)
An American intelligence official vowed Thursday that the United States would avenge a suspected terrorist attack on a U.S. base in Afghanistan that r… - August 20, 2009 — CIA hired Blackwater in plan to kill militants (0)
The CIA in 2004 hired contractors from the private security firm Blackwater USA as part of a secret program to track and assassinate senior al Qaed… - June 4, 2009 — Judge Tosses Telecom Spy Suits (0)
Shock and surprise
A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed lawsuits targeting the nation’s telecommunication companies for their p… - October 23, 2009 — Judge Tosses Lawsuits Against Blackwater, Now Xe (0)
A federal judge on Wednesday tossed out a series of lawsuits filed by alleged Iraqi victims of the contractor once known as Blackwater USA, but is all… - March 22, 2009 — New deal for Blackwater (0)
Days after the Baghdad government decided it no longer wanted the company then known as Blackwater in Iraq, the State Department signed a $22.2 millio…
