Ah, to be an American mercenary in today’s world. Yeah, you get shot at, but you get ridiculously high pay, no adult supervision, and if you do wrong, you don’t get punished.
This is quite an article which outlines how screwed up this merc system has become.
Immunity Deal Hampers Blackwater Inquiry
The State Department promised Blackwater USA bodyguards immunity from prosecution in its investigation of last month’s deadly shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians, The Associated Press has learned.
The immunity deal has delayed a criminal inquiry into the Sept. 16 killings and could undermine any effort to prosecute security contractors for their role in the incident that has infuriated the Iraqi government.
“Once you give immunity, you can’t take it away,” said a senior law enforcement official familiar with the investigation.
State Department officials declined to confirm or deny that immunity had been granted. One official _ who refused to be quoted by name_ said: “If, in fact, such a decision was made, it was done without any input or authorization from any senior State Department official in Washington.”
UPDATE: The Justice Dept unofficially now says the the State Dept. has no authority to grant immunity, but that the case may be tainted and prosecution difficult or impossible because they were told they had immunity before talking. Everybody act confused while the Blackwater guys slip out the back entrance!
This is an outrage! The use of mercs is bad enough.. but giving them immunity?? Is anyone else reminded of the Altamont incident? The moral of the story is be careful who you hire for security!
Who’s the terrorists now…Bitches?
Why don’t we wait and see if what is being said happened really happened . I remember accusation a few months to a year ago about soldiers killing innocent civilians and they were tried and convicted in the press only to be found innocent after all the facts were learned .
We’re all numb to this.
The GOP installed Bush fiasco is basically running amok till their asses get kicked out of office this time next year. That’s the one thing wrong with democracy on a large scale (democracy was fine for smaller Greek communities) – letting simple minded, religious freaks (ie Republicans) allowed to vote in governments.
Yup, wait and see, wait and see.
Just like the conservative creeps who said – when the Patriot Act (sic) was proposed – let’s wait and see what our government will do. They’re trying to protect us.
Just like the creeps who feared challenging the Iraq invasion because they might be called unpatriotic. Though, what patriotism has to do with invading countries on the other side of the world escapes me.
#3 – you don’t give immunity to people who needn’t fear indictment.
Ex-military in Blackwater
Ex-military in the FBI (investigating Blackwater)
“Don’t worry dude, we’ll take care of each other”.
welcome to the 21st century 😉
Just another reason for the rest of the world to turn against. (well the few that havent already anyway)
What the media is not reporting is that the State Department’s handling of the Blackwater incident has essentially cost America big time.
“The oil game in Iraq may be almost up. On September 29th, like a landlord serving notice, the government of Iraq announced that the next annual renewal of the United Nations Security Council mandate for a multinational force in Iraq — the only legal basis for a continuation of the American occupation — will be the last. That was, it seems, the first shoe to fall. The second may be an announcement terminating the little-noticed, but crucial companion Security Council mandate governing the disposition of Iraq’s oil revenues.” – Jack Miles
The Bush Adminstration had sought Oil revenue sharing agreements from the new Iraq administration. It was one of the 14 progress baselines reported in september. Looks like Iraq will be kicking America out and keeping oil revenues for themselves.
The Blackwater incident seems to be the final straw.
professional terrorists!
Ariane, the oil-revenue sharing agreements involve Iraqis sharing oil among the provinces, not with the US!
The bigger and more worrying question, is what are all these mercenaries going to do when the war is over….
The immunity is from Iraqi prosecution. They are not immune from US oversight.
People who murder for money?… DISGUSTING
Hey at least these mercs are paid well.
The mercs in the US Military are not paid sh*t and are getting killed far quicker.
Cursor_
OK, this isn’t the general immunity they’re talking about, but with regards to the specific case.
This is a good summary by Andy McCarthy:
Big story in the Washington Post this morning is about the Blackwater controversy in which State Department contract guards are implicated in the September 16 shootings in which sixteen Iraqis were killed. It turns out that potentially incriminating statements made by the guards may not be used against them because State Department investigators effectively immunized them.
Under the rules, the guards are treated as if they were government agents. Government agents can be compelled to answer questions by their agencies on pain of losing their jobs if they demur. But there’s a price tag: if they choose to speak under that compulsion, any statements they make may not be used to prosecute them due to the Fifth Amendment’s proscription against compulsory self-incrimination.
This is a weighing government always has to make in a situation fraught with political implications: Do we treat it as a diplomatic incident or a crime? Is it more important to find out what happened quickly so it can be explained or to find out what happened methodically so culprits can be prosecuted?
Sometimes, you can do both — but you need to have people who are experienced in this sort of thing. The State Department is perfectly good at getting to the bottom of certain things, but murder (if this was murder) is not in its bailiwick. The FBI, on the other hand, knows how to do this — and knows, in particular, that if you can’t crack the case without giving someone immunity, you don’t turn around and give everyone immunity. Instead, you try to assess what knowledgeable person has the least culpability and immunize that person — you lose the ability to prosecute him, but the trade-off is you can use his information to prosecute everyone else.
Looks like that may not have happened here. In theory, the FBI may still be able to prosecute, but it would have to do it on the basis of other evidence, and it would have to be able to prove the immunized statements did not advance the case against anyone who gave them. That can be very hard to do.
Talk about legalized murder. Why don’t we just take everyone on Death Row, and let them loose in Iraq/Iran/whatever country Bushco, Inc. wants to invade?
ITS AGAINST THE LAW…
I always knew this war was made so the younger American generations would know how it felt like killing brown skinned folk and getting away with it.
So whats the skin color in Afghanistan?
NPR reports that there is no immunity. State dept. cannot legally grant immunity- only the Dept of Justice. Wonder what will happen now to ‘make it go away…’?
Doesn’t the Bush watch Law and Order like the rest of America?
You only grant immunity for testimony that rats out the big criminals who are the most guilty.
Oh, wait a minute. I get it now.