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.