Former Blackwater Employees Not Welcome in Iraq
Iraqi Govt Still Looking at Options After Court Ruling
Still seething over the Thursday ruling by a US judge to drop all charges against five Blackwater contractors over a 2007 Baghdad massacre, the Iraqi government is looking at what moves to take in retaliation.
One thing is clear, according to Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh, not only is Blackwater not welcome in the country, but former employees aren’t welcome either, even if they are working for other contractors.
In September 2007, the Blackwater employees opened fire on a crowd of unarmed civilians in Baghdad. The employees insisted they were acting in self defense after they thought they heard gunfire.
Iraq banned Blakwater from operating in the country in January 2009. Despite this ban, the US State Department kept Blackwater contractors around to provide security as late as September 2009, ostensibly because their replacement wasn’t ready.
In addition to banning former contractors, the Iraqi government says it will support civil lawsuits against Blackwater over the incident, and will urge the Justice Department to try to get the criminal case reinstated.
Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz
- Centrifuge Glitch Fuels Latest Iran Scare Stories - May 25th, 2012
- Iraq MPs Push Return to Saddam-Era Conscription Laws - May 25th, 2012
- US Negotiator on Iran to 'Reaffirm Our Unshakeable Commitment to Israel' - May 25th, 2012
- UN: Syria Bombings Likely by 'Established Terrorist Groups' - May 25th, 2012
- Military to Avoid Embarrassing Pictures by Banning Photography - May 25th, 2012
Smiddy
January 4th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
No, don't ban them… invite them over, arrest them and try them yourself.
Blackwater Wants $1 Billion to Train the New Afghan Police Force « Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy
January 10th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
[...] Blackwater was basically kicked out of Iraq for wantonly killing civilians in Baghdadwhile providing “security” for the State Department in 2007. Even though a US court failed to bring them to justice, Iraq is still pursuing the case and has so little trust in Blackwater or the people it hires that the government has explicitly said former Blackwater employees are not welcome in the country. [...]
The Survivalist Forum » Blog Archive » Blackwater wants $1 billion to train the new Afghan police force
January 11th, 2010 at 2:41 am
[...] Blackwater was basically kicked out of Iraq for wantonly killing civilians in Baghdad while providing “security” for the State Department in 2007. Even though a US court failed to bring them to justice, Iraq is still pursuing the case and has so little trust in Blackwater or the people it hires that the government has explicitly said former Blackwater employees are not welcome in the country. [...]