Good move and this will help their case. The photo below, is the photo that the news has just posted. The irony is that the photo shows each one in their former military uniform, and rightly so. It is a reminder to the public that these guys not only served their country as civilian contractors, but also served as Soldiers and Marines. Does that mean they are less patriotic, or that their sacrifice is any less significant, now that they are security contractors? I don’t think so, and the way the press demonizes this industry is despicable. How many civilian contractors have died in support or defense of the client? So 230,000 plus civilian contractors supporting and defending an all volunteer military and diplomatic corps in this war, and this is the thanks we get?
I want justice served, just like anyone else out there. But to make out these men to be public enemy number one, is crap. These men were tasked with protecting people in a war zone, a war zone in which the enemy wears no uniform and obeys no laws. This is a war, where vehicles are used as weapons, and suicide bombers could be a woman or child, and survival sometimes requires extreme measures to defend against such things. I will not second guess what these men had to do to survive this incident, because I wasn’t there. To me, these men are innocent until proven guilty, and that their service to country in this war, both in the military and as a civilian contractors, is significant. Perhaps we should bring back the draft, just to show the other half of this country how significant that service really is? Thanks to Jeff for sending me this by the way, and Semper Fi. –Head Jundi
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5 Blackwater guards surrender to feds
Charged with killing 17 civilians, they seek trial in pro-gun state, not D.C.
The Associated Press
Dec. 8, 2008
WASHINGTON – Five Blackwater Worldwide security guards surrendered Monday in an investigation into a deadly 2007 shooting in a busy Baghdad intersection.
The five guards are charged with manslaughter and using a machine gun in a crime of violence. Though they are charged in a sealed indictment in Washington, they surrendered at a federal courthouse in Salt Lake City. The Justice Department is preparing to make the charges public later Monday.
Seventeen Iraqis were killed in the September 2007 shooting. Witnesses said the heavily armed U.S. contractors opened fire unprovoked, killing innocent motorists and children at a crowded intersection. Blackwater, the largest security contractor in Iraq, says its guards were ambushed by insurgents while responding to a car bombing.
Neither the guards nor their attorneys spoke to reporters as they entered the courthouse. Though the case has already been assigned to U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina in Washington, attorneys want the case moved to Utah, where they would presumably find a more conservative jury pool and one more likely to support the Iraq war.
30-year terms possible
The guards face the prospect of 30-year mandatory prison terms under the anti-machine gun law passed during the height of the crack cocaine epidemic. A sixth guard struck a plea deal in Washington to avoid that lengthy sentence. Details of the deal remain sealed in Washington but could be made public later Monday, when the Justice Department holds a news conference to discuss the case.
The indicted guards are Donald Ball, a former Marine from West Valley City, Utah; Dustin Heard, a former Marine from Knoxville, Tenn.; Evan Liberty, a former Marine from Rochester, N.H.; Nick Slatten, a former Army sergeant from Sparta, Tenn.; and Paul Slough, an Army veteran from Keller, Texas.
The sixth guard has not been identified.
The shooting strained relations between the U.S. and Baghdad. The fledgling Iraqi government wanted Blackwater, which protects U.S. State Department personnel, expelled from the company. It also sought the right to prosecute the men in Iraqi courts.
“The killers must pay for their crime against innocent civilians. Justice must be achieved so that we can have rest from the agony we are living in,” said Khalid Ibrahim, a 40-year-old electrician who said his 78-year-old father, Ibrahim Abid, died in the shooting. “We know that the conviction of the people behind the shooting will not bring my father to life, but we will have peace in our minds and hearts.”
‘Politically motivated,’ defense says
Defense attorneys accused the Justice Department of bowing to Iraqi pressure.
“We are confident that any jury will see this for what it is: a politically motivated prosecution to appease the Iraqi government,” said defense attorney Steven McCool, who represents Ball.
Based in Moyock, N.C., Blackwater is the largest security contractor in Iraq and provides heavily armed guards for diplomats. Since last year’s shooting, the company has been a flash point in the debate over how heavily the U.S. relies on contractors in war zones.
StoryHere