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  1. #1
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    Ex-Blackwater Guards Face Sentencing in Iraq Case

    WASHINGTON—
    A yearslong legal fight over a deadly shooting of civilians in an Iraq war zone reaches its reckoning point with the sentencing this week of four former Blackwater security guards.

    Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty and Paul Slough face mandatory, decades-long sentences because of firearms convictions. A fourth defendant, Nicholas Slatten, faces life in prison after being found guilty of first-degree murder.

    At the hearing Monday in U.S. District Court, defense lawyers intend to appeal for mercy by arguing that their clients acted in self-defense during a chaotic firefight in Baghdad.

    They also plan to argue that sending the defendants to prison for decades would be an unfairly harsh outcome for men who have close family ties and proud military careers, and who were operating in stressful conditions in a war-torn country.

    More here: Ex-Blackwater Guards Face Sentencing in Iraq Case

  2. #2
    Thailand Expat Boon Mee's Avatar
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    They panicked at that traffic circle.

  3. #3
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    A murderous 'panic' amplified by the absurd myth that the Iraqi invasion was justified by 9/11

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Boon Mee
    They panicked at that traffic circle.
    . . . and murdered men, women and children. Lucky they aren't getting the death sentence.

    Yup, let them rot in jail until the end of their days

  5. #5
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    Davis Knowlton's Avatar
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    They got long, and well-deserved, sentences. One got life, the other three 30 years each.

  6. #6
    Thailand Expat Pragmatic's Avatar
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    They got long, and well-deserved, sentences. One got life, the other three 30 years each.
    Is 'life' life? Or a defined number of years? Will they do '30 years' or get paroled before then?
    Last edited by Pragmatic; 14-04-2015 at 07:11 PM.

  7. #7
    Philippine Expat
    Davis Knowlton's Avatar
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    ^How the fuck do I know?

  8. #8
    Thailand Expat

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    Still, it is encouraging to see that the septics can do the decent thing from time to time.

  9. #9
    Thailand Expat Pragmatic's Avatar
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    It wasn't a direct question Davis. Chill out. Go get some water on your face. I was hoping someone know as I'd like to think they do their full terms.

  10. #10
    Thailand Expat Black Heart's Avatar
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    I don't recall this incident.

    Can someone give some details.

    Video? Not that I want to see it.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton
    They got long, and well-deserved, sentences. One got life, the other three 30 years each.
    Spot on mate.

    You're an American - not a seppo.

    And like Chris Rock said

    "I hate niggers - but I love black people"

    Chok Dee Bro.

  12. #12
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    It doesn't get much worse than this, and these idiots were actually dumb enough to video and record it.




  13. #13
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    ^Cheers Bob - just goes to show what a murderous bunch of hicks they were - death sentence would have been better for the cnts.

    Saying that - a life of locked-down madness accompanied by much arse raping is more parallel to the disgusting shit they did.

    Horrible cnts.

  14. #14
    I am in Jail

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    Considering there private contractors, surely there cases should of been in the country of where crimes were being committed.

  15. #15
    Thailand Expat Black Heart's Avatar
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    OK,

    Yeah, I remember these videos and the story now.

    7+ years ago or more. 9?

    Yes, very sick and twisted. They should live a horrid remainder of their days.

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Seekingasylum View Post
    Still, it is encouraging to see that the septics can do the decent thing from time to time.
    I was never in favor of the 'security' contractors; use the US military or don't get involved.

    Having said that, how many IS or other so called militias discipline their members for illegal killings?

    A big fat zero...

  17. #17
    I am in Jail

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    Lancelot what a total nonsense comment.

    Remember what started it WMD, and look at the shit going down now, through ferking idiots.

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lancelot View Post
    I was never in favor of the 'security' contractors; use the US military or don't get involved.

    Having said that, how many IS or other so called militias discipline their members for illegal killings?

    A big fat zero...
    Yes, you guys look really good when comparing yourselves with the most brutal, lawless bumhole regimes past or present.

  19. #19
    I am in Jail
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    At the hearing Monday in U.S. District Court,...
    Why aren't they tried in Iraq, where they committed the crimes?

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lancelot
    Having said that, how many IS or other so called militias discipline their members for illegal killings?

    A big fat zero...
    As rational an argument as the faux-Christian brigade defending their hatred of Islam by saying that churches can't be built in Saudi.

    As stroller has already said - continue comparing yourselves to the slime of humanity in a sad attempt to look 'good' . . . while you already beat many of these vile places with your incarceration rates, government executions etc...

    Quote Originally Posted by Horatio Hornblower
    Lancelot what a total nonsense comment.

    Remember what started it WMD, and look at the shit going down now, through ferking idiots.
    Yup

  21. #21
    Thailand Expat Pragmatic's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Horatio Hornblower
    Considering there private contractors, surely there cases should of been in the country of where crimes were being committed.
    They were employees of the US government and were/are covered in the same way as a US soldier who commits a crime on active service. So I believe.




  22. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lancelot View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Seekingasylum View Post
    Still, it is encouraging to see that the septics can do the decent thing from time to time.
    I was never in favor of the 'security' contractors; use the US military or don't get involved.

    Having said that, how many IS or other so called militias discipline their members for illegal killings?

    A big fat zero...
    Illegal killings?
    What the hell is that?

  23. #23
    Thailand Expat Black Heart's Avatar
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    Dirtbags.....

  24. #24
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    Trump pardons Blackwater contractors jailed for massacre of Iraq civilians

    Four guards fired on unarmed crowd in Baghdad in 2007, killing 14 and sparking outrage over use of private security in war zones

    President Donald Trump has pardoned four Blackwater security guards who were given lengthy prison sentences for killing 14 civilians in Baghdad in 2007, a massacre that caused international uproar over the use of private contractors in war zones.


    The four – Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, Dustin Heard and Nicholas Slatten – were part of an armoured convoy that opened fire indiscriminately with machine-guns and grenade launchers on a crowd of unarmed people in the Iraqi capital. Known as the Nisour Square massacre, the slaughter was seen as a low point in the conflict in Iraq.


    In 2014, Slough, Liberty and Heard were found guilty of 13 charges of voluntary manslaughter and 17 charges of attempted manslaughter, while Slatten, the team’s sniper who was the first to open fire, was convicted of first-degree murder. Slatten was sentenced to life; Slough, Liberty and Heard got 30 years each.


    An initial prosecution was thrown out by a federal judge – sparking outrage in Iraq –but the then vice president, Joe Biden, promised to pursue a fresh prosecution, which was backed by judges.


    At the sentencing, the US attorney’s office said in a statement: “The sheer amount of unnecessary human loss and suffering attributable to the defendants’ criminal conduct on September 16, 2007, is staggering.”


    After news of the pardon came through on Tuesday night, Brian Heberlig, a lawyer for one of the four pardoned Blackwater defendants, said: “Paul Slough and his colleagues didn’t deserve to spend one minute in prison. I am overwhelmed with emotion at this fantastic news.”


    The pardons reflected Trump’s apparent willingness to give the benefit of doubt to American service personnel and contractors when it comes to acts of violence against civilians in war zones. In November last year, he pardoned a former US Army commando who was set to stand trial in the killing of a suspected Afghan bomb-maker, and a former Army lieutenant convicted of murder for ordering his men to fire upon three Afghans.

    Supporters of the former contractors at Blackwater Worldwide had lobbied for the pardons, arguing that the men had been excessively punished.


    Prosecutors asserted the heavily armed “Raven 23” Blackwater convoy launched an unprovoked attack using sniper fire, machine guns and grenade launchers. Defence lawyers argued their clients returned fire after being ambushed by Iraqi insurgents.


    The US government said in a memorandum filed after the sentencing: “None of the victims was an insurgent, or posed any threat to the Raven 23 convoy”. The memorandum also contained quotations from relatives of the dead, including Mohammad Kinani, whose nine-year-old son Ali was killed. “That day changed my life forever. That day destroyed me completely,” Kinani said.


    Also quoted in the memorandum was David Boslego, a retired US army colonel, who said that the massacre was “a grossly excessive use of force” and “grossly inappropriate for an entity whose only job was to provide personal protection to somebody in an armoured vehicle”.


    Boslego also said the attack had “a negative effect on our mission, [an] adverse effect … It made our relationship with the Iraqis in general more strained.”


    FBI investigators who visited the scene in the following days described it as the “My Lai massacre of Iraq” – a reference to the infamous slaughter of civilian villagers by US troops during the Vietnam war – in which only one soldier was convicted.


    After the convictions, Blackwater – which changed to Academi after being sold and renamed in 2011 – said it was “relieved that the justice system has completed its investigation into a tragedy that occurred at Nisour Square in 2007 and that any wrongdoing that was carried out has been addressed by our courts.


    “The security industry has evolved drastically since those events, and under the direction of new ownership and leadership, Academi has invested heavily in compliance and ethics programs, training for our employees, and preventative measures to strictly comply with all US and local government laws.”


    The 14 victims killed by the Blackwater guards on trial were listed as Ahmed Haithem Ahmed Al Rubia’y, Mahassin Mohssen Kadhum Al-Khazali, Osama Fadhil Abbas, Ali Mohammed Hafedh Abdul Razzaq, Mohamed Abbas Mahmoud, Qasim Mohamed Abbas Mahmoud, Sa’adi Ali Abbas Alkarkh, Mushtaq Karim Abd Al-Razzaq, Ghaniyah Hassan Ali, Ibrahim Abid Ayash, Hamoud Sa’eed Abttan, Uday Ismail Ibrahiem, Mahdi Sahib Nasir and Ali Khalil Abdul Hussein.


    Trump pardons Blackwater contractors jailed for massacre of Iraq civilians | Iraq | The Guardian

  25. #25
    Member TheMadBaron's Avatar
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    The pardons reflected Trump’s apparent willingness to give the benefit of doubt to American service personnel and contractors when it comes to acts of violence against civilians in war zones.
    The benefit of what doubt? If there was reasonable doubt, why were they convicted in the first place? It's as if Trump has been learning from Duterte.

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