Judge Dismisses All Charges Against Blackwater Guards

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Judge Dismisses All Charges Against Blackwater Guards in Nisoor Square Massacre

Is anyone really surprised by this decision? These killings will continue whether under the Blackwater name or some other military contracter. As the military becomes more and more privitized with these private no-bid contracts.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, explain exactly what it was he decided and what it was he was objecting to.


SCOTT HORTON: Well, first of all, I should note that General Odierno’s statement is completely incorrect; that is, the decision to dismiss these charges had nothing to do with lack of evidence or weak evidence against the Blackwater employees. To the contrary, there was copious evidence. There was plenty of evidence prosecutors could have used that they evidently weren’t prepared to, including eyewitnesses there. The decision to dismiss was taken as a punishment measure against Justice Department prosecutors based on the judge’s conclusion that they engaged in grossly unethical and improper behavior in putting the case together.


And specifically what they did is they took statements that were taken by the Department of State against a grant of immunity; that is, the government investigators told the guards, “Give us your statement, be candid, be complete, and we promise you we won’t use your statement for any criminal charges against you.” But the Justice Department prosecutors took those statements and in fact used them. They used them before the grand jury. They used them to build their entire case. And they did this notwithstanding warnings from senior lawyers in the Justice Department that this was improper and could lead to dismissal of the case. It almost looks like the Justice Department prosecutors here wanted to sabotage their own case. It was so outrageous.


AMY GOODMAN: Do you think that’s possible?


SCOTT HORTON: I think it is possible. Specifically in this case, there were briefings that occurred on Capitol Hill early on in which senior officials of the Justice Department told congressional investigators, staffers and congressmen that essentially they didn’t want to bring the case. In fact, one of the congressmen who was present at these briefings told me they were behaving like defense lawyers putting together a case to defend the Blackwater employees, not to prosecute them. And I think we see the evidence of that copiously in Judge Urbina’s opinion.

AMY GOODMAN: What about the US continuing to work with Blackwater, now called Xe, X-e? You have just this latest news of two government—Blackwater operatives reportedly killed last week at the CIA base in Afghanistan.


SCOTT HORTON: Well, that’s right. In fact, I would note that one of the statements the Iraqi government made in response to this was that even though Blackwater was no longer formally a contractor in Iraq, they found that many of the Blackwater employees had simply recontracted with the new contractors there, so they were still in place. And the Iraqi government said that’s completely unacceptable.


Well, the problem is that the US has not changed its pattern of heavy reliance on private security contractors. If anything, we’re actually seeing that reliance increase in connection with the operations in Afghanistan. And in fact, there are only a handful of qualified and authorized service providers. So Blackwater, almost by definition, is going to continue to hold a large part of these contracts as they’re awarded, not with—this is notwithstanding promises that were made by Hillary Clinton, when she was running for president, to terminate the Blackwater contracts. I mean, now she is Secretary of State, and Blackwater is still the principal security contractor to the State Department.


AMY GOODMAN: In this issue, you’ve written about “graymailing”?


SCOTT HORTON: That’s exactly right. There’s obviously a far-reaching criminal investigation going on into Blackwater right now, two grand juries that have been impaneled. And we saw this recent interview of Erik Prince’s with Vanity Fair in which he’s suggesting that he will spill the beans on all sorts of delicate state secrets involving the CIA and JSOC, which is the Special Operations Command of the military, if criminal cases are brought against him and his company. So this is a classic case of graymailing, which I think points to the foolishness at the outset of entrusting to a private company some of the most secret and most confidential matters of the nation’s intelligence community.

Peace

gimmesometruth27

g under p wrote:

Judge Dismisses All Charges Against Blackwater Guards in Nisoor Square Massacre

Is anyone really surprised by this decision? These killings will continue whether under the Blackwater name or some other military contracter. As the military becomes more and more privitized with these private no-bid contracts.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, explain exactly what it was he decided and what it was he was objecting to.


SCOTT HORTON: Well, first of all, I should note that General Odierno’s statement is completely incorrect; that is, the decision to dismiss these charges had nothing to do with lack of evidence or weak evidence against the Blackwater employees. To the contrary, there was copious evidence. There was plenty of evidence prosecutors could have used that they evidently weren’t prepared to, including eyewitnesses there. The decision to dismiss was taken as a punishment measure against Justice Department prosecutors based on the judge’s conclusion that they engaged in grossly unethical and improper behavior in putting the case together.


And specifically what they did is they took statements that were taken by the Department of State against a grant of immunity; that is, the government investigators told the guards, “Give us your statement, be candid, be complete, and we promise you we won’t use your statement for any criminal charges against you.” But the Justice Department prosecutors took those statements and in fact used them. They used them before the grand jury. They used them to build their entire case. And they did this notwithstanding warnings from senior lawyers in the Justice Department that this was improper and could lead to dismissal of the case. It almost looks like the Justice Department prosecutors here wanted to sabotage their own case. It was so outrageous.


AMY GOODMAN: Do you think that’s possible?


SCOTT HORTON: I think it is possible. Specifically in this case, there were briefings that occurred on Capitol Hill early on in which senior officials of the Justice Department told congressional investigators, staffers and congressmen that essentially they didn’t want to bring the case. In fact, one of the congressmen who was present at these briefings told me they were behaving like defense lawyers putting together a case to defend the Blackwater employees, not to prosecute them. And I think we see the evidence of that copiously in Judge Urbina’s opinion.

AMY GOODMAN: What about the US continuing to work with Blackwater, now called Xe, X-e? You have just this latest news of two government—Blackwater operatives reportedly killed last week at the CIA base in Afghanistan.


SCOTT HORTON: Well, that’s right. In fact, I would note that one of the statements the Iraqi government made in response to this was that even though Blackwater was no longer formally a contractor in Iraq, they found that many of the Blackwater employees had simply recontracted with the new contractors there, so they were still in place. And the Iraqi government said that’s completely unacceptable.


Well, the problem is that the US has not changed its pattern of heavy reliance on private security contractors. If anything, we’re actually seeing that reliance increase in connection with the operations in Afghanistan. And in fact, there are only a handful of qualified and authorized service providers. So Blackwater, almost by definition, is going to continue to hold a large part of these contracts as they’re awarded, not with—this is notwithstanding promises that were made by Hillary Clinton, when she was running for president, to terminate the Blackwater contracts. I mean, now she is Secretary of State, and Blackwater is still the principal security contractor to the State Department.


AMY GOODMAN: In this issue, you’ve written about “graymailing”?


SCOTT HORTON: That’s exactly right. There’s obviously a far-reaching criminal investigation going on into Blackwater right now, two grand juries that have been impaneled. And we saw this recent interview of Erik Prince’s with Vanity Fair in which he’s suggesting that he will spill the beans on all sorts of delicate state secrets involving the CIA and JSOC, which is the Special Operations Command of the military, if criminal cases are brought against him and his company. So this is a classic case of graymailing, which I think points to the foolishness at the outset of entrusting to a private company some of the most secret and most confidential matters of the nation’s intelligence community.

Peace

this ruling is HORSESHIT!!

might as well give all military contractors blanket immunity because they, like the administration that gave them the contracts, will never be held accountable for anything they have done. what an absolute disgrace.

if all of these guys are free from prosecution, why not let our military take care of these things themselves, i mean, how often are soldiers tried for things they have done in war?

g under p

g under p wrote:

AMY GOODMAN: In this issue, you’ve written about “graymailing”?


SCOTT HORTON: That’s exactly right. There’s obviously a far-reaching criminal investigation going on into Blackwater right now, two grand juries that have been impaneled. And we saw this recent interview of Erik Prince’s with Vanity Fair in which he’s suggesting that he will spill the beans on all sorts of delicate state secrets involving the CIA and JSOC, which is the Special Operations Command of the military, if criminal cases are brought against him and his company. So this is a classic case of graymailing, which I think points to the foolishness at the outset of entrusting to a private company some of the most secret and most confidential matters of the nation’s intelligence community.

Peace

This is part of the reason why this judge's decision is so terrible because people like Erik Prince can hold the powers that be like the CIA at bay. He can do so by simply threatening to speak out on Special Ops we've conducted through the Blackwater company. Who knows what sensitive secrets he knows and our govenrment doesn't want it's citizens to know. The US can not have these private companies handling or knowing about our top secrets, it'll just come back to haunt you.

Peace

Wobbie

no, not surprised at all.

Great tactic to "win hearts and minds." :roll:

Cliffy6745

Wow, just got finished reading "Master of War" on Erik Prince and Blackwater so this is pretty fresh in my mind. The government is sacred to death of him talking.

gimmesometruth27

Cliffy6745 wrote:

Wow, just got finished reading "Master of War" on Erik Prince and Blackwater so this is pretty fresh in my mind. The government is sacred to death of him talking.

if the government is so scared of him talking why not have some sort of tragic accident befall him? god knows the government has allegedly arranged for such tragic accidents in the past...

g under p

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

Cliffy6745 wrote:

Wow, just got finished reading "Master of War" on Erik Prince and Blackwater so this is pretty fresh in my mind. The government is sacred to death of him talking.

if the government is so scared of him talking why not have some sort of tragic accident befall him? god knows the government has allegedly arranged for such tragic accidents in the past...

A couple posts earlier I thought of the same thing also but who knows what Erik Prince has to reveal in case of his death.

Here's a bit more on the CIA and Blackwater.....CIA Reportedly Ordered Blackwater To Murder 9/11 Suspect

January 05, 2010 "Raw Story" -- In 2004, the CIA sent a team from the private security firm Blackwater, now Xe, to Hamburg to kill an alleged al Qaeda financier who was investigated for years by German authorities on suspicion of links to al Qaeda, according to a little-highlighted element in a Vanity Fair article to be published this month.

The report cited a source familiar with the program as saying the mission had been kept secret from the German government.

"Among the team's targets, according to a source familiar with the program, was Mamoun Darkazanli, an al Qaeda financier living in Hamburg who had been on the agency's radar for years because of his ties to three of the 9/11 hijackers and to operatives convicted of the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa," writes Vanity Fair's Adam Ciralsky.

"The CIA team supposedly went in 'dark,'' meaning they did not notify their own station -- much less the German government -- of their presence; they then followed Darkazanli for weeks and worked through the logistics of how and where they would take him down," reports the magazine.

Washington authorities, however, "chose not to pull the trigger," it said.

Vanity Fair has reemerged as a powerful journalistic force in recent years, outing the long-secret "Deep Throat" source of The Washington Post's Watergate reporting.

Earlier reports revealed that the Bush Administration was considering a "targeted assassination" program -- in apparent breach of international treaties -- which would have put lethal targets on the backs of terror suspects beyond the reach of US law. The article adds that the CIA also considering taking out Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan (at left), believed to be the mastermind behind Pakistan's development of a nuclear bomb.

"Khan’s inclusion on the target list, however, would suggest that the assassination effort was broader than has previously been acknowledged," Ciralsky writes.

A source purportedly said: “They say the program didn’t move forward because [they] didn’t have the right skill set or because of inadequate cover. That’s untrue. [The operation continued] for a very long time in some places without ever being discovered. This program died because of a lack of political will.”

Peace

Cliffy6745

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

Cliffy6745 wrote:

Wow, just got finished reading "Master of War" on Erik Prince and Blackwater so this is pretty fresh in my mind. The government is sacred to death of him talking.

if the government is so scared of him talking why not have some sort of tragic accident befall him? god knows the government has allegedly arranged for such tragic accidents in the past...

Good question, I would assume Gary Jackson has all of the information that Prince does. Throughout the entire book Prince wanted to take his case to the public and the State Department and DOD absolutely refused to let him talk to the media.

gimmesometruth27

Cliffy6745 wrote:

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

Cliffy6745 wrote:

Wow, just got finished reading "Master of War" on Erik Prince and Blackwater so this is pretty fresh in my mind. The government is sacred to death of him talking.

if the government is so scared of him talking why not have some sort of tragic accident befall him? god knows the government has allegedly arranged for such tragic accidents in the past...

Good question, I would assume Gary Jackson has all of the information that Prince does. Throughout the entire book Prince wanted to take his case to the public and the State Department and DOD absolutely refused to let him talk to the media.

prince does not have a whole lot of credibility with the media or the american people. this guy is waging a holy war against islam. he is a modern day crusader, and i don't think the average american would really care if prince was knocked off. with all the billions of taxpayer dollars he has gotten and all of the innocent blood that is on his hands i know i wouldn't.

Cliffy6745

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

prince does not have a whole lot of credibility with the media or the american people. this guy is waging a holy war against islam. he is a modern day crusader, and i don't think the average american would really care if prince was knocked off. with all the billions of taxpayer dollars he has gotten and all of the innocent blood that is on his hands i know i wouldn't.

Prince going to the public now would be absolutely worthless in trying to rehab his and Blackwaters image and I agree that most people wouldn't give a shit if something happened to him (I wouldn't either). My point was more that Prince wanted to go to the public to tell his side of the story when things were first coming out, he saw the "liberal" media controlling the arguments and wanted to get his side of the story out on Nissor square and some of the other incidents.

fuck

This is one of the most disgusting things to happen in the American Justice Court system. I hope this goes down in history as an example of just how truly corrupt our government has been.

g under p

From Democracy Now

Blackwater, Iraqi Victims Reach Financial Settlement

The news broke just hours after it was revealed Blackwater had reached a settlement for the shootings of around seventy Iraqis. Blackwater is reportedly paying $100,000 for each of the Iraqis killed by its forces and between $20-30,000 to each Iraqi wounded. News of the settlement came a week after a federal judge dismissed manslaughter charges against five Blackwater operatives involved in the Nisoor Square massacre that killed seventeen Iraqi civilians.

It should have been more, a lot more.

Peace

gimmesometruth27

g under p wrote:

From Democracy Now

Blackwater, Iraqi Victims Reach Financial Settlement

The news broke just hours after it was revealed Blackwater had reached a settlement for the shootings of around seventy Iraqis. Blackwater is reportedly paying $100,000 for each of the Iraqis killed by its forces and between $20-30,000 to each Iraqi wounded. News of the settlement came a week after a federal judge dismissed manslaughter charges against five Blackwater operatives involved in the Nisoor Square massacre that killed seventeen Iraqi civilians.

It should have been more, a lot more.

Peace

it is very sad. it should have been a million per dead and 500,000 per wounded at least. either way the american tax payer paid for all of it when they hired these fucking contractors...

Commy

the thing that worries me about all of this is its a private army, it could be hired by a corporatoin for examle. we already have a powerful state serving the elite, what if the elite themselves to decide to arm?



we're fucked, unless we use our power, our abilty to shut this fucked up society down for good. when we stop working they have nothing to run, their authority mean fuckall. and it will come to that, a gov't and corporate institutions vs the people....and the people will win, as its always been.

Pepe Silvia

Commy wrote:

the thing that worries me about all of this is its a private army, it could be hired by a corporatoin for examle. we already have a powerful state serving the elite, what if the elite themselves to decide to arm?



we're fucked, unless we use our power, our abilty to shut this fucked up society down for good. when we stop working they have nothing to run, their authority mean fuckall. and it will come to that, a gov't and corporate institutions vs the people....and the people will win, as its always been.

i've thought that, too. it doesn't even have to be a war type scenario, they've helped the cia in snatch and grab missions and it wouldn't surprise me if they had part in that assassination program of cheney's.

exxon hired Wackenhut to spy on, try to steal records from and tried to pretty much entrap a whistleblower who was testifying against them, it turned out they were even spying on the senators on the committee doing the investigation