Attorneys for the five Blackwater contractors indicted Thursday for a September, 2007 shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead hit out at the Justice Department today, insisting it was “unfair” of them to second-guess the contractors’ actions.
Attorney Tom Connolly said he was confident the jury would not “do what the Department of Justice is doing – which is second-guessing honorable men in a firefight.” Blackwater has repeatedly insisted that the incident came during a shootout provoked by an ambush of one of their convoys, but the Iraqi government cites witnesses saying the guards fired unprovoked on the civilians.
Sources say the five guards will turn themselves in to the FBI on Monday, and that the Justice Department plans to unveil what charges they will be facing at that time. Blackwater has reportedly been told they will not face charges in the incident.