Blackwater gunned down Iraqi civilians as they tried to flee, US says as case goes to jury
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/27/blackwater-gunned-down-iraqi-civilians-as-they-tried-to-flee-us-says-as-case-goes-to-jury/
Blackwater gunned down Iraqi civilians as they tried to flee, US says as case goes to jury
By Reuters
Wednesday, August 27, 2014 15:29 EDT
By Aruna Viswanatha
WASHINGTON (Reuters) Four former security guards for Blackwater Worldwide took something that didnt belong to them, the lives of 14 human beings, in September 2007 when they fired on civilians in a Baghdad traffic circle, a U.S. prosecutor told jurors on Wednesday.
Several victims were shot in the back as they tried to flee, federal prosecutor Anthony Asuncion noted. Summing up the governments case against the guards, he also recounted the testimony of relatives who had given emotional accounts of their loved ones gory deaths.
Asuncion began closing arguments by painting the ex-security guards as cold-blooded killers who unleashed firepower on Iraqi civilians who posed no threat.
The shootings at Nisur Square, four years into the Iraq war, sparked international outrage. The guards were trying to secure a path for a State Department convoy.