Iraq 'to appeal Blackwater verdict'

[CaliCompadre]

Source: Al Jazeerah

The Iraqi government will push to appeal a US court ruling dismissing charges of murder against five security guards of the private Blackwater firm, an official has told Al Jazeera.

Saad al-Muttalibi, an adviser to the Iraqi council of ministers, said that if the guards did not receive a just sentence for the killing of 14 Iraqis in 2007, the issue would complicate relations between Iraq and the United States.

"This matter will be appealed in the American court and if not resolved correctly, this will definitely add another strain on the relationship between Iraq and the United States," he said on Friday.

"The legality or the procedures of the court case should not stop the criminals from facing justice and receiving a just sentence.

Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/201011101136634433.html

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[dipsydoodle]

1. Yep

Exclude all US oil companies from Iraq until resolved.

BBC link to subject here : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8437092.stm

[Christa]

2. Hmmmm

I bet the verdict was made worthwhile of the judge ...

[Xipe Totec]

3. Don't blame the judge

Look at the prosecutors in this case.

[Jefferson23]

4. Yes and perhaps the U.S. government needs to think about offering reparations right now.

[PatrynXX]

14. I assume it was a prosecution put together by Bush?

incompetence

[Xipe Totec]

15. Incompetence? I would say malfeasance

Deliberately botched.

[ScottLand]

5. Why weren't the Iraqis allowed to handle the

investigation and trial? If we really considered them to be a legitimate government, they would have. We wasted over 4000 American lives to set up a puppet government.

[barbtries]

6. i seriously doubt

that a massacre on the streets of the US would be handled in the courts of a foreign nation.

[Alcibiades]

7. You cannot use limited immunity to get away with murder

Can you?

[mbperrin]

8. Hey, here's the facts on what happened.

They did.

So glad the Iraqis are getting such a schooling in the workings of democracy, open government, yada, yada, yada.

[EFerrari]

32. CIA apparently can. This puts their guy Karzai in a very awkward position

doesn't it? It's Kabuki-like.

[ThomThom]

9. I think the law was easy. We gave immunity to all soldiers and

mercenaries when we first took over Iraq. So their is no case.

[RedCloud]

28. International law cannot be overruled by US "law".

[onethatcares]

10. winning hearts and minds the old fashioned American way

and if they don't welcome you with flowers and open arms, kill em all.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. Getting away with murder - a time honored American tradition!

[Gore1FL]

12. The judge did the right thing. The problem was B.A. Justice dept.

We have the presumption of innocence and the promise of a fair trial.

These guys were not allowed to have the the fair trial because of the criminal and criminally incompetent Bush Justice department.

[Robb]

16. Indeed. DUers tend to forget this when it's inconvenient.

These guys gave statements under the assumption they were not going to be prosecuted. Then the people that took those statements and made that promise prosecuted them.

We are a nation of laws, and a fair trial is up there with free speech in the biggest law of the land.

Irony is DUers also want to abandon free speech when they don't care for the message, too.

[CaliCompadre]

17. What would you say to the parents and children of the dead

If you were to explain the situation to them?

[Name removed]

18. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Doctor_J]

19. We haven't explained any of this to them for 6.5 years, so

I don't think our government is too worried about that hypothetical

[JDPriestly]

24. Wouldn't they just excluded the tainted evidence and proceed

based on that part of the evidence that could be admitted? I'm not a criminal lawyer, but I believe that tainted evidence is simply excluded. If there is evidence other than the statements obtained in violation of their rights, it could be used.

[Gore1FL]

33. I think the problem is

the witnesses have been tainted with it.

[pundaint]

27. When government takes final action on the eve of a 4-day weekend in a 6-year-old case

you know, if you pay attention, that is is something they are trying to bury.

[madokie]

13. You betch'ya

murder is murder and needs to be dealt with, perferably on their soil in their court. If our plan is to bring democracy then lets do it. No better way to show to the people there that we are serious

[Doctor_J]

20. Good luck with that!

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[LiberalFighter]

21. Just mysteriously drop off the security guards in Iraq.

Make sure to stamp Xe on their foreheads.

[defendandprotect]

22. This will be a new American precedent-setting for injustice . . . !!!

[JDPriestly]

23. Confessions given under a promise of immunity.

What happened here? I thought the judge said that the statements were inconsistent and suggested that he was throwing the case out due to the lack of credibility of the affidavits. Today I read that the rights of the witnesses were violated. Shouldn't they just exclude the tainted evidence? Couldn't they question the witnesses in court?

[scarface2004]

25. iraq should go vigilante on their ass!

i wouldn't blame iraq if they dispatched an elite team to do justice!

[pundaint]

26. What would America do?

Does Iraq have fewer international rights?

[Vidar]

29. It should have been handled by the Iraqui courts in the first place.

[RB TexLa]

30. Why have these people not been charged in Iraq?

[GoldenOldie]

31. Blackwater murders Iraqi citizens within Iraq and US courts Judge them????

Why do they hate us????

[boppers]

34. I think that's the next step.

They were granted immunity by US prosecutors. They were not granted immunity by Iraq prosecutors.