It looks at the rise of private security contractors such as Blackwater in the era of modern warfare. The incident led to at least five investigations and although the Blackwater guards repeatedly claimed that their actions were justified, several of them came to the opposite conclusion. Following the US invasion of Afghanistan, Blackwater was amongst the hundreds of private military firms employed by the US government but their contracts were more high end than others. Add a Comment. The Nisour Square Massacre On September 16, 2007, employees of the Blackwater Security Consulting private security firm opened fire on unarmed Iraqi civilians in Nisour Square in Baghdad while directing traffic. However, as the War on Terror broke out in 2001, Blackwater took on an entirely new role and became the security company we know now which would go on to become one of the most infamous modern mercenary companies to have ever existed. 3:28. [66] Howard Krongard, who was appointed Inspector General of the U.S. State Department in 2005,[67] resigned in December 2007 after he was accused by the House Oversight Committee of improperly interfering with investigations into the Blackwater Baghdad shootings. The massacre lasted four hours and only ended when another US soldier, Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson, intervened and ordered his men to shoot any Charlie Company troops who shot at the civilians. Blackwater footage in Iraq. [4] In 2014, four Blackwater employees were tried[5] and convicted in U.S. federal court; one of murder, and the other three of manslaughter and firearms charges;[6] all four convicted were controversially pardoned[7] by President Donald Trump in December 2020,[8] in violation of international law. Instead, it appears as though the massacre was started by a single bullet fired by Nicholas Slatten, a Blackwater guard. This wasn't the first time that Blackwater was involved in an unnecessary shooting. [26][27] A U.S. Army convoy arrived at 12:39p.m., backed by air cover, to escort TST 22 back to the Green Zone. However, according to Reuters, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit, claiming that "the U.S. government had recklessly violated the defendants' constitutional rights." Here is the history of his path of destruction. [15] The incident sparked at least five investigations, including one from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. [47], The U.S. State Department said it planned to investigate what it called a "terrible incident". In September 2007, Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, and Dustin Heard fired live ammunition and threw grenades into Nisour Square, a busy traffic roundabout in Baghdad, killing 14 . [49], An Interior Ministry spokesman said Iraqi authorities had completed their investigation into the shooting and concluded that Blackwater guards were responsible for the deaths. 2007-10-24 Nisour -- footage of the event?-- , You Tube, Nisour Square Massacre In total, the defendants faced 14 counts of voluntary manslaughter and 20 counts of attempted manslaughter. Around 12 pm on September 16, 2007, 15 Blackwater employees in the tactical support team known as Raven 23 were driving four trucks in an armed convoy through Nisour Square to get to the site of a car bombing, which had happened earlier in the day. On 16 September 2007, Blackwater employees escorted a convoy of US State Department vehicles to a meeting in western Baghdad. Immediately, after the trial, the four Blackwater guards were taken to prison. Between 2004 and 2008, the State Department ended giving Blackwater more than $1 billion in contracts. The report further said that Blackwater had reported that its forces fired first in over 80 percent of the cases. Thus, Blackwater had no evidence that its guards were only returning firean action that would have been within the rules of engagement, and not illegal. Analyzes how nisour square shooting was the last straw for blackwater. There was also an incident on December 24, 2006, when Andrew Moonen, a Blackwater guard, murdered Raheem Khalaf Saadoon, a security guard for Adel Abdul Mahdi, the Iraqi vice president. The killings outraged Iraqis and strained relations . From firing rifles into traffic and smashing cars out of the way to running a woman over trying to cross the street, the footage added fuel to evidence that the PMC "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life." According to Courthouse News Service, they also stated that Slough, Heard, and Liberty should also be re-sentenced "because their 30-year prison terms were too long" and constituted "cruel and unusual punishment.". [37] A senior aide to al-Maliki said that three of the Blackwater guards were Iraqis and could be subject to prosecution. They were tasked with providing security services to the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia as well as a different CIA base that was at the center for the mission to capture Osama bin Laden. [37], Blackwater, which had been operating in Iraq without an Iraqi government license, applied for one after the incident, but the application was rejected by Iraqi officials in January 2009. This is a mashup from the men of Raven 23 (SRS EP . As he slumped forward, his weight on the accelerator meant the car kept moving. Drawn from the ranks of the Navy SEALs, Delta Force, former The BBC reports that during Slatten's second trial in 2018, a mistrial was declared after the jury deliberated for 16 days. And Blackwater didn't make the investigation easy. Slough, Liberty and Heard were convicted on multiple charges of voluntary and attempted. As shootings in the square were not uncommon, it is unclear whether the shells were from the shooting in question or from other incidents. 20ft 20ft = 400 sq ft. How many square feet is a 12x12 room? The Russian Deep State. The Nisour Square massacre occurred on September 16, 2007, when employees of Blackwater Security Consulting (now Constellis), a private military company contracted by the US government to provide security services in Iraq, shot at Iraqi civilians, killing 17 and injuring 20 in Nisour Square, Baghdad, while escorting a U.S. embassy convoy. "[21] Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki harshly criticized the dismissal. NPR reports that sometime after the Al-Qaeda bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen in October 2000, where 17 sailors were killed, Blackwater won a $46 million contract from the U.S government for "training sailors in counterterrorism." The logs depicted "a hectic eight minutes in which the guards repeatedly reported incoming gunfire from insurgents and Iraqi police". A security detail from the. In one incident on December 24, 2006, one drunk Blackwater guard, Andrew Moonen, got into an argument with one of the Iraqi vice presidents guards and shot and killed him. (Iraqi police) or any of the local security forces fired back at them", the official continued. Erik Prince. [3][84] Prosecutors stated they reached their decision after an "assessment of the admissible evidence against him". [1][2][3] The killings outraged Iraqis and strained relations between Iraq and the United States. 3:48. 'Look at That Thing': Footage Shows Pilots Spotting Unknown Object. But the inquiry was abandoned after Blackwater's top manager there issued a threat: "that he could kill" the government's chief investigator and "no one could or . [97], On December 22, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump granted full presidential pardons to Slatten, Slough, Liberty, and Heard. Contractor Banned by Iraq Over Shootings", "F.B.I. After being leaked by a former employee of the notorious PMC, the footage dated April 2006 was featured in a piece called The Warrior Class by Charles Glass. Very difficult. He also maintained that he wanted to limit and reduce the authority of all security contractors, not just Blackwater, Timereports. [50], On October 4, 2007, U.S. military reports indicated Blackwater's guards had opened fire without provocation and used excessive force. Some witnesses also claimed that the same Blackwater team subsequently opened fire on another line of traffic after the shooting in Nisour Square. NOW ON DVD www.noendinsightmovie.com The first film of its kind to chronicle the reasons behind Iraq's descent into guerilla war, warlord rule, criminality . On Sunday the 16 th, a Blackwater convoy on contract for the State Department came to a halt at a Baghdad intersection called Nisour Square. 273 comments. In an instant, Ahmed was shot through the head. [28] Nicholas Slatten was found guilty of first-degree murder, and Slough, Liberty and Heard were found guilty of voluntary and attempted manslaughter charges, and of using a machine gun to commit a violent crime. Viciously murdering a foreign entity that has been leveling your country for a month and doing just as worse if not the same, i.e bombing hospitals, kindergartens, civilians etc. Batya () is the founder of Reaper Feed. Not only was the decision described as a "miscarriage of justice," but some U.N experts claimed that the pardons "violate U.S. obligations under international law and more broadly undermine humanitarian law and human rights at a global level," per Reuters. The square footage of a room measuring 20 feet wide by 20 feet long is 400 square feet. Their first contract, awarded in June 2004, was for $100 million for one year. The so-called Nisour Square massacre was the single bloodiest incident involving American private security contractors during the Iraq conflict. [79] Three weeks later, Vice President Joe Biden, who was overseeing U.S. policy in Iraq, promised Iraqi leaders the U.S. would appeal the dismissal of these charges. [54], Radio logs released in December 2008 seemed to affirm that the guards had been responding to an attack on September 16. According to Vox, investigators Jean C. Richter and Donald Thomas Jr. discovered, among other issues, that migrant workers were being used as guards for the Blackwater compound and Blackwater guards had neglected to even give them beds to sleep on in their living quarters. Russian security team lacks support in Iraq. [19] The three justifiable killings were those of the two passengers in the white Kia sedan and an unidentified Iraqi nearby. U.S. military reports appear to corroborate the Iraqi government's contention that Blackwater was at fault in the incident. The court determined that the Blackwater guards were unprovoked, and Heard was found guilty of one firearm offense, 11 counts of attempted manslaughter, and 6counts of voluntary manslaughter. To calculate feet squared (or sq. In the wake of the massacre in 2007, the Iraqi government banned Blackwater from working in the country and cancelled their license. [23]:32 Shortly after assuming their positions, "Raven 23" began firing on civilians in response to an approaching car, killing fourteen and wounding twenty more. Despite the reports and investigations that determined that the use of force was unjustified, the Blackwater guards maintain that they'd "never take an innocent life. Receive exclusive resources to become a better writer, economist, and historian. Blackwater guards were also known for their aggression. Meanwhile, it took two weeks before a 10-person FBI team was sent to investigate the massacre for the government. The incident led to at least five investigations and although the Blackwater guards repeatedly claimed that their actions were justified, several of them came to the opposite conclusion. When the guards got to the intersection at Nisour Square where the massacre took place, some of them got out of the trucks to stop traffic so the convoy could get through. 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