Blackwater, good or bad?

November 14th, 2010 |

I wonder how many millions we’ve already invested in the ludicrous attempt to prosecute Blackwater for the terrible crime of self-defense, of putting their lives on the line in a war zone where folks die every day, of doing their job… This political correctness crap has flowed over onto the battlefields and it’s got to stop. Somewhere, someone, has got to demonstrate some leadership rather than bow to the King of Saudi and continually apologize for what Americans do…and do…and do…and do for the world. The military has a process for prosecution in military zones. LET THEM DO THEIR JOB.

I, for one, am sick to death of our Justice Department and Eric Holder. Sorry, the guy’s an overeducated dunce.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG7lm8Sfbo4

This from the NYT. Italics below are by me.

Efforts to Prosecute Blackwater Are Collapsing

By JAMES RISEN

Published: October 20, 2010

WASHINGTON — Nearly four years after the federal government began a string of investigations and criminal prosecutions against Blackwater Worldwide personnel accused of murder and other violent crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, the cases are beginning to fall apart, burdened by a legal obstacle of the government’s own making. (this, of course, was after hiring them to do exactly what they did. Let’s see: Hire someone to protect your diplomats in a war zone, then be outraged when an innocent gets shot, a mistake the military makes monthly in the same zone? It looks to me like Blackwater was hired to be the whipping boy in an impossible situation.

In the most recent and closely watched case, the Justice Department on Monday said that it would not seek murder charges against Andrew J. Moonen, a Blackwater armorer accused of killing a guard assigned to an Iraqi vice president on Dec. 24, 2006. Justice officials said that they were abandoning the case after an investigation that began in early 2007, and included trips to Baghdad by federal prosecutors and F.B.I. agents to interview Iraqi witnesses. If the accused walked into the man’s bedroom and shot him in his sleep, yes, he should be prosecuted, otherwise it’s just to placate this country’s liberals. Like our troops, if they are put there at our discretion, let them do their jobs and don’t judge them until you’ve walked a mile in their boots.

The government’s decision to drop the Moonen case follows a series of failures by prosecutors around the country in cases aimed at former personnel of Blackwater, which is now known as Xe Services. In September, a Virginia jury was unable to reach a verdict in the murder trial of two former Blackwater guards accused of killing two Afghan civilians. Late last year, charges were dismissed against five former Blackwater guards who had been indicted on manslaughter and related weapons charges in a September 2007 shooting incident in Nisour Square in Baghdad, in which 17 Iraqi civilians were killed. A terrible thing, a result of a terrible situation. Stand in the middle of a couple of hundred men and women in robes and try to pick out the bad guy with shots are being fired, and you’re in fear of you life and trying to protect the lives of others and see how well you do…but of course millions of dollars of your money and mine were spent to investigate and prosecute.

Interviews with lawyers involved in the cases, outside legal experts and a review of some records show that federal prosecutors have failed to overcome a series of legal hurdles, including the difficulties of obtaining evidence in war zones, of gaining proper jurisdiction for prosecutions in American civilian courts, and of overcoming immunity deals given to defendants by American officials on the scene. What a surprise.

“The battlefield,” said Charles Rose, a professor at Stetson University College of Law in Florida, “is not a place that lends itself to the preservation of evidence.” Duh!

The difficulty of these cases also illustrates the tricky legal questions raised by the government’s increasing use of private contractors in war zones. And they, of course, know the situation and will continue to use private contractors until we offer up enough enlisted troops to do the job…and it’s a crime for us not to do so if we ask one boy or girl to put their life on the line for something we, supposedly, want done.

Such problems clearly plagued the Moonen case. In the immediate aftermath of the Christmas Eve shooting, Mr. Moonen was interviewed, not by the F.B.I., but by an official with the Regional Security Office of the United States Embassy in Baghdad, the State Department unit that supervised Blackwater security guards in Iraq.

Mr. Moonen’s lawyer, Stewart Riley, said that his client gave the embassy officials a statement only after he was issued a so-called Garrity warning — a threat that he might lose his job if he did not talk, but that he would be granted immunity from prosecution for anything he said. So, even if guilty, we are only looking for a scapegoat for our own actions. It’s time, in this kind of situation, and in so many more, domestically, we took responsibility for our own actions.

The legal warning and protection given to Mr. Moonen were similar to warnings that embassy officials later gave to Blackwater guards involved in the Nisour Square case. In each case, the agreements presented an obstacle to prosecution in the United States. In effect, the Blackwater personnel were given a form of immunity from prosecution by the people they were working for and helping to protect.

“Once you immunize statements, it is really hard to prosecute,” said Andrew Leipold, a law professor at the University of Illinois. “In the field, the people providing the immunity may value finding out what happened more than they do any possibility of prosecution. But that just makes any future prosecution really very hard.” So, let me see, give someone immunity from prosecution then spend millions trying to undo what you did? Brilliant.

Justice Department officials declined to comment Wednesday about specific Blackwater cases. This while preparing contracts to hire them again where they’ll be compelled to do the same thing again. But the department has appealed the dismissal of the Nisour Square case, and a new trial has been scheduled for next March in the Virginia murder case after a mistrial was declared. And Justice officials noted that the government had had a number of successful prosecutions against contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, including several for sexual assaults and other violent crimes. More than 120 companies have been charged by the Justice Department for contract fraud and related crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait, officials said. Contract fraud, white collar crtime, is another kettle of worms altogether.

Still, a Justice official who spoke on the condition of anonymity acknowledged that the government had faced tough obstacles. “There are substantial difficulties in prosecuting cases committed in war zones,” the official said. “There’s problems with the availability of witnesses, availability of evidence, and the quality of the evidence. You also have claims of self-defense, which are generally difficult, although not insurmountable.” Let’s see, claiming self-defense in a zone where you’re being paid to defend yourself and others? Now there’s a real surprise.

And self-defense is a more compelling argument in war zones, where many people are routinely armed. Duh!

One problem in the Moonen case, for example, was that while Mr. Moonen admitted in his statement to the embassy official that he did shoot the Iraqi guard, he asserted that he had done so in self-defense. The guards in the Virginia case also said that they shot in self-defense when they believed they were facing an attack from insurgents. In the Nisour Square case, the five Blackwater guards who were charged also claimed that they shot only after they believed they were under attack. These guys get enough practice on the range, they don’t start firing unless they think there’s a damn good reason as no one is safe when lead starts flying. OF COURSE they thought they were under attack. Common sense seems to escape our government, particularly our Justice Department under Holder.

Jurisdictional problems also plague the Blackwater cases. Since the Blackwater guards were working under a contract with the State Department, they did not fall under the laws that govern contractors working for the Defense Department overseas. Contractors for the Defense Department are subject to criminal prosecution under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, but it has never been clear whether the law can be applied to contractors for the State Department, like Blackwater. Those contractors generally have greater protections because of the possibility that they might be engaged in fighting.

Until last year, foreign contractors also had immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law, so the Blackwater guards were operating in a legal vacuum, noted Eric Jensen, a law professor at Fordham University. “I would be concerned as a prosecutor that even if you got past the immunization, and the problems with witnesses and evidence, that you may not even have a law that supports the prosecution of a Department of State contractor,” Mr. Jensen said. “Congress has tried to address this, but it’s still a live question.” But our Justice Department will go on expending millions and millions of our dollars trying to prosecute folks for doing what we’ve contracted with them to do, rather than concern themselves with our border problem, etc. The military has there own prosecution device, let them do their job, and stay home, Mr. Holder, where you and yours belong, and try and do your job here.

Mr. Riley cited these reasons in a letter he wrote in April 2009 to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. about the case and also noted that he believed the government had considered indicting Mr. Moonen to placate the Iraqi government. In a letter sent to Mr. Riley on Monday, notifying him that they were dropping the case, prosecutors also indicated that they would have difficulty proving their case beyond a reasonable doubt, particularly in overcoming Mr. Moonen’s claims that he shot in self-defense. And this millions and millions and millions of dollars later.

Meanwhile, the government said that the United States ambassador to Iraq, James F. Jeffrey, had to notify the Iraqi government of the decision, and also provided government officials a letter to be given to the family of the shooting victim, Raheem Saadoun. This year, Mr. Saadoun’s family dropped a civil lawsuit against Mr. Moonen and Blackwater after receiving a financial settlement. Which they may have deserved, but which I guarantee was a huge sum as it seems it’s easy for them to give away our money.

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FROM THE PEA PATCH

Blackwater, good or bad?

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