Blackwater Charges Dropped

When historians list the U.S. crimes in Iraq, a special chapter has to be dedicated to Blackwater. A private mercenary army it has been awarded tens of millions of contracts to operate as a private security firm in Iraq protecting U.S. officials.

Blackwater's founding president Erik Prince is an ultra-Christian zealot who sees all Muslims an enemies of the United States in particular and Christianity in general, and himself on a personal mission to eradicate Islam from the world. In his recruitment for Blackwater, he selected men who share his Christian supremacy views and who were sent to Iraq in part to devastate Iraqi life and kill innocent Muslims.

And Blackwater employees did precisely that - opening fire and killing innocent Iraqis numerous times. Blackwater's crimes became so blatant that the Iraqi government has prohibited them from further operating in the country and even the Bush administration opened up prosecutions against Blackwater murderers. The case the U.S. government was charging employees (which one employee already admitted guilt to):

shooting, which took place on Sept. 16, 2007, in a crowded central Baghdad traffic circle at Nisour Square . . . left 17 Iraqis dead and 27 wounded. Many of the victims were riding inside cars or buses at a busy traffic circle when a Blackwater convoy escorting American diplomats rolled through and began firing machine guns, grenade launchers and a sniper rifle.

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It was cool blooded murderer, but now these killers have been acquitted in court on a technicality:

Many Iraqis also viewed the prosecution of the guards as a test case of American democratic principles, which have not been wholeheartedly embraced, and in particular of the fairness of the American judicial system.

On Thursday, Judge Ricardo M. Urbina threw out manslaughter and weapons charges against five Blackwater guards because he said prosecutors had violated the men’s rights by building the case based on sworn statements that had been given by the guards under the promise of immunity.

Prosecutors have not said whether they will appeal the decision.

In Baghdad on Friday, some victims and their families expressed grave disappointment at the ruling and said they did not understand how charges could have been dropped despite what they regarded as overwhelming evidence. Some said they were shot as they tried to flee.

“What are we — not human?” asked Abdul Wahab Adul Khader, 34, a bank employee who was shot in the hand while driving his car through the traffic circle. “Why do they have the right to kill people? Is our blood so cheap? For America, the land of justice and law, what does it mean to let criminals go? They were chasing me and shooting at me. They were determined to kill me.”

Sami Hawas, 45, a taxi driver, was shot in the back during the episode and is paralyzed.

“I can’t even think of words to say,” Mr. Hawas said after being told about the court ruling. “We have been waiting for so long. I still have bullets in my back. I cannot even sit like an ordinary human being.”

Ali Khalaf, a traffic police officer who was on duty in Nisour Square at the time and aided some of the victims, was furious.

“There has been a cover-up since the very start,” he said. “What can we say? They killed people. They probably gave a bribe to get released. This is their own American court system.”

Their victims were just Muslims, right? This is the "superior" West that Americans like to delude themselves into believing Muslims envy and this (not the crimes of Blackwater et al) are why they hate us.

Iraqis should not forgot this moment, and rebuff U.S. efforts to establish influence in post-war Iraq.