Blackwater mercenaries on trial for mass murder in Iraq

This video from the USA says about itself:

Blackwater Contractors Driving Over Iraqi Woman

5 April 2012

Cenk Uygur discusses a video recently released by Harper’s Magazine that shows private contractors from Blackwater in Iraq hitting cars in traffic and running over a woman then fleeing the scene.

Blackwater is the mercenary firm founded as Blackwater USA in 1996 by former Navy SEAL and fundamentalist Christian Erik Prince. It received no-bid contracts from the Bush administration in Iraq, Afghanistan, and post-Katrina New Orleans. In 2009, Prince resigned as CEO. Amid scandals over misbehavior by Blackwater employees in Iraq, the company renamed itself Blackwater Worldwide in 2007, Xe Services in 2009, and Academi in 2011. Subsidiaries include Paravant LLC.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Former US mercenaries face trial over Iraqi deaths

Tuesday 10th June 2014

FOUR ex-mercenaries from notorious US security firm Blackwater will face trial tomorrow in the killings of 14 Iraqi civilians and the wounding of 18 others.

The violence at the Nisoor Square roundabout in central Baghdad on September 16 2007 was the darkest episode of contractor violence during the war in Iraq, becoming a diplomatic disaster.

Blackwater’s men have been brought to court only following years of delays.

Founder Erik Prince declared: “I believe we acted appropriately at all times.”

The shootings and the attendant publicity spelled the death knell for his company, which is now under new ownership.

The company was sold to a group of investors who changed the name to Academi.

Nicholas Slatten is charged with first-degree murder. The other three guards — Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard — are charged with voluntary manslaughter, attempted manslaughter and various gun charges.

Iraq fatally destabilised by 2003 invasion: here.

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