NY Times - Blackwater Charged in Iraqi Court - "Murder of Citizens" Charged

[autorank]

New York Times

September 23, 2007

Security Company Faces Iraqi Criminal Charges

By JAMES GLANZ and SABRINA TAVERNISE
Grabbed it here

BAGHDAD, Sept. 22 The Iraqi government said Saturday that it expects to refer criminal charges to its courts within days in connection with a shooting here by a private American security company, and the Interior Ministry gave new details of six other episodes it is investigating involving the company.

The state minister for national security affairs, Shirwan al-Waili, said the government had received little information from the American side in the early days of a joint investigation of the shooting, which involved the company Blackwater USA and left at least eight Iraqis dead. But he said that the Iraqi investigation was largely completed and that he believed the findings were definitive. “The shots fired on the Iraqis were unjustifiable,” he said. “It was harsh and horrible.”

Although Mr. Waili did not spell out what the investigative committee would recommend to the criminal court, a preliminary report of findings by the Interior Ministry, the National Security Ministry and the Defense Ministry stated that "the murder of citizens in cold blood in the Nisour area by Blackwater is considered a terrorist action against civilians just like any other terrorist operation."

“The criminals will be referred to the Iraqi court system,” it said.

The spokesman for the Interior Ministry, Maj. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf, also laid out previous episodes involving Blackwater this year in which he said a total of 10 Iraqis had been killed and 15 wounded. The company would not comment on those incidents on Saturday.

[aquart]

1. Good.

Aside from the Magnificent Seven, nobody likes a mercenary.

[Subdivisions]

2. But...but...but...the * decreed that they

were immune from prosecution.

Guess he was wrong.

[zippy890]

3. does anybody know how many mercenaries there are in Iraq?

is there ANY type of accountability/oversight, or even just tracking? How many companies provide security services?

I'm getting this dreadful sense that that there is no accountability. what a fucked up mess.

[Supersedeas]

4. nothing to see here - feed them more meaningless poll numbers

[starroute]

5. "A terrorist action against civilians just like any other terrorist operation"

Gotta love it when their "terrorist" meme comes back to bit them in the ass.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

6. This is going to be interesting.I believe that upon transfer of sovereignty, Shrub forced an

agreement that held the "contractors" above Iraqi law, and that they could not be prosecuted in Iraqi courts.

[bvar22]

7. Can the Iraqis "detain" Blackwater mercs...

..as "Unlawful Combatants"?


BTW: "Blackwater" is the crap that get flushed down your toilet. "Graywater" is bath and washroom discharge.

[Me.]

8. This Could Be A Crucial Pivot Point

If the Iraqis refuse to back down. The citizens are enraged by Blackwater and this may produce a schism where they seriously tell that jerk in the WH, to get his A$$ out of there. I read where Maliki and Rice were at a meeting the other day at the UN and neither spoke to the other, in fact they avoided each other. Thank God Condi is such a diplomat.