Iraq has filed case against Blackwater: PM

[ProSense]

Source: AFP

NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) – Iraq has filed a lawsuit against private security firm Blackwater in a US court and will file another in Iraq, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday, amid fury over an American court dropping charges against five Blackwater guards.

"The US justice department has protested against this decision," Maliki said, referring to the ruling last week to dismiss criminal charges against the guards, who were accused of killing 14 Iraqi civilians in an unprovoked attack in September 2007.

"For our part, we have formed a committee and filed a case against Blackwater in the United States and will file one here in Iraq," he told reporters in the holy Shiite shrine city of Najaf in southern Iraq.

Maliki did not give any further details about the case.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100104/ts_alt_afp/iraqusjusticesecurityblackwater_20100104132314

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[votingupstart]

2. i will be interested to see where this goes

if the US (Criminal)case was so mangled that it had to be dropped, i wonder where a US (civil - i am guessing?)case would go....... interesting

[onehandle]

4. Nowhere.

It's just not done. America is untouchable.

[L. Coyote]

3. kick & rec

[Alcibiades]

5. They are in a bind

The immunity deal offered by the State Department shouldn't stand legal scrutiny: it should not be possible for the parties to a criminal act to effectively immunize themselves from prosecution, and any non-US court would find this laughable. Moreover, the Maliki government really wants to demonstrate it's not a puppet, and prosecuting Americans for atrocities they actually committed seems like a good tool. The Status of Forces Agreement also provides no protection for mercenaries who murder civilians.

US courts let these guys get away with murder over a technicality. I know it would be par for the course for these guys to get away with it again, but:

1. How does the US maintain that the Iraqi government is democratic and not a puppet regime if they interfere with the prosecution of crimes committed by Americans against Iraqis on Iraqi soil?

2. How can the Iraqi government accept anything less than a conviction, given that public outrage has caused them to be so committed to pursuing this case?

3. What, if anything, can the puppet masters do to retaliate against duly constituted legal authority, given that they deny that they are puppet masters?

4. The immunity arrangements and statements made by the contractors count for nothing, as their prosecutors have eyewitnesses and don't need to rely on any statements by the accused to establish their guilt.

As unlikely as it seems, this could actually happen. Blackwater's mercenaries might actually be held accountable for the murders they committed on behalf of the Bush regime.