US News
Blackwater USA Security Guards Killed 17
By Karyn Chenoweth Oct 8, 2007, 14:20 GMT
Erik Prince, CEO of Blackwater USA, testifies during a hearing held by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. USA on 02 October 2007. Blackwater USA is the private security company used by the U.S. State Department in Iraq. The company is under investigation by a number of different government agencies for wrongdoing in Iraq. EPA/STEFAN ZAKLIN
An official Iraqi investigation into a deadly shooting involving Blackwater USA security guards has raised the number of Iraqis killed to 17.
CBS News reports that the investigation also found the gunfire was unwarranted and amounted to a deliberate crime. It recommends those involved face trial.
The Blackwater guards are accused of opening fire on Iraqi civilians in a main square in Baghdad last month. The guards claim they came under fire first.
Meanwhile, a joint U.S.-Iraqi commission has met for the first time to review American security operations after the shooting.
The commission, chaired by Iraqi Defense Minister Abdul-Qader al-Obeidi and U.S. Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission, Patricia A. Butenis, expressed "mutual commitment of the Iraqi government and the U.S. government to work together to evaluate issues of safety and security related to personal security detail operations in Iraq," the brief embassy statement said.
The commission is expected to issue recommendations to both Baghdad and Washington on improving Iraqi and U.S. security procedures, with the "goal of ensuring that personal security detail operations do not endanger public safety" and prevent similar incidents in the future.
It is one of at least three investigations into the Sept. 16 incident in which Blackwater guards are accused of firing on Iraqi civilians in a main square in Baghdad.
The North Carolina-based security company contends its employees came under fire first, but the Iraqi government and witnesses that claim otherwise.
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Older Talkback
page: 1
'Still winning hearts and minds'?
eh ??
(G.W.Bush)
LOL
...I'm expected to believe these guys just started firing....no provication...in a war zone....just for fun?
Aren't these the same folks who phonied up the false paparwork on Bush?
Aha...SP4 in need of clarification .Are you perhaps voicing doubt ?That would be the first time .Why do you not simply tell us your own neocon version of the facts ?An attack launched by Al Quaida to undermine the newly installed democracy in Iraq ?Give us your best shot SP4 and don't hide behind silly questions .
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7033332.stm
I would be far more interested to see why the US is also trying to hush-up the 5000 cases of cholera in Iraq ,caused by bomb damaged water supplies and raw sewage, none of which has been repaired, or will be
Yes, everyone believes the security group just started shooting for sheer boredom and spite.
I am sure there was no threat or insurgents ready to attack the Americans.
You would just love to see Americans not fire so they can just be killed than monkeys like yourself can criticize us from the comfort of your parents basement.
I dont know why you leftist-dhimmi slave Europeans hate American forces so much, it is the same military that saved you skirts twice this century.
When the next European war begins, I will be protesting any US attempts to send troops to the old world when the muslims rise up and make Europe the next Lebanon.
We should not save you a 3rd time this century.
Hungarian Crusader
She thats why ANOTHER two unarmed civilian woman have just been shot by american security guards as they went shopping in their car?
Still 'Winning hearts and Minds'?
You're not making a very good job of it, are you?
Oh I forgot to add, when american private security merceneries are conracted to Iraq, they are 'immune from prosecution'
I.E. They can get away with murder.
I think the European Court of Human Rights should take a look at this one.
Let's see here....some rent-a-soldiers just went 'yee haa' and just went into some kind of Quenton tarantino kill-crazy shoot-fest.... in a country full of armed insurgents just itching to kill every westerner they can put in their sights!
Yep, Tonny, that sounds perfectly f--king reasonable to me! Golly, THAT was easy. After all, the enemy wears red and marches in a straight line!
How many of these accusation-laden stories have been debunked since we got there?
Most of these press accounts start with the perposterous, where applicable and then, like a lens on a camera, come into focus as time goes on. Look at the Duke rape mess. Or some of these fire fights in Iraq.
Hurricane Katrina was the gold standard with:
Rapes in the superdome - proven to be false
Shots at helicopters - none EVER recorded
In one sensational urban legend after another, the facts are found not to match he media's suppositions.
These were things that happend right here. Now we are expected to take for fact, accounts from half way around the world, where fact is about a scarce as gold, and the truth is something you only hear about from a guy who knows a guy...
Hungarian idiot, WWI and WWII were in the 20th century. 2007 is in the 21st century. Oh and Hungary was allied with the Nazis.
I know they were in the 20th century so what is the difference you moron?
Are we Americans supposed to restart the century clock now to give you another 2 freebies to bail you out of wars you can not ever hope to win fighting Germany!
It means nothing to the 628,000 DEAD Americans, whether it is 20th or the 21st century...they are STILL DEAD thanks to your Euro cissies who prefer skirts to pants these days.
Oh yeah, America was allied with the Communist Russians and Chinese jagbag who combined killed appm. 47 million of their own citizens BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER WW 2 so where does that put American foreign policy you son of a douchebag?
Hungary was smart to ally with Germany.
Were they supposed to run into the arms of Soviet, Stalinist Russia who stole Hungarian lands after the WW 1 ended??
It is so easy to play Mrs. Knowitall decades after the war has ended, with the real men dead, and tampons as yourself spouting ignorance on your mother's computer.
You know skatah (as the Greeks would tell you) of history and foreign policy.
Go kiss and bend over to a muslim raghead dhimmi slave.
The one and ONLY Hungarian Crusader-1453
I think leftists are grabbing at straws here.
It is obvious our Hungarian associate meant the 20th century, he was referring to the last 100 year period.
Typing in and pointing out the 2 wars occured in the 20th century would be pointless and unnecessary, but Boz needed extra clarification.
Boz needs to ease up on the drinking.
Angry and fed up with Europeans blaming America for absolutely everything.
Well they are certainly responsible for the disasterous war and the mess that is called IRAQ.
Ditto with a so what.
The Iraqui scum fired first and the media and the liberal/communist members of the U.S. congress are acting as provocateurs in support of terrorists who would/are murdering poorly led servicemen and citizens.
It is clear now that the use of nuclear weapons would have been the best solution for this matter as well as Syria, Iran, palistine (sic) and the rest of the muslim terrorist states.
Let's not split hairs over this matter, let's split atoms.
This is because they've enjoyed the security provided by the rest of the world for so long, they NOW feel entitled to object to others like the Iraqi people who would like the same security for themselves.
I am proud to say we are truly making Iraqi's life a lot better; under US occupation Iraqis are able to see their Maker a lot faster than they were under Sadam.
page: 1
dennisOct 8th, 2007 - 16:17:08
so what?
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