McClatchy: Blackwater incident referred to Iraqi magistrate

[babylonsister]

Blackwater incident referred to Iraqi magistrate
By Leila Fadel and Warren P. Strobel | McClatchy Newspapers

* Posted on Friday, September 21, 2007


BAGHDAD — Iraq's Interior Ministry has completed its investigation of last weekend's shooting incident involving Blackwater USA security guards and has referred the case to a magistrate to determine whether criminal charges should be filed, a spokesman said Friday.

Abdel Karim Khalaf, the ministry spokesman, said the evidence collected in the case, in which 11 people died and 12 were wounded, includes videotape from nearby cameras. That tape indicates that the Blackwater guards fired first and weren't responding to an attack, as Blackwater has claimed, Khalaf said.

It's unclear what would happen if the magistrate decided to press charges in an Iraqi criminal court. Khalaf said the Interior Ministry would push to have the Blackwater guards face charges in Iraq, but current law exempts foreign security companies and their employees from Iraqi jurisdiction.

The Interior Ministry report also may be trumped by a U.S.-Iraqi commission charged with investigating the case. That commission is headed jointly by Iraq's defense minister, Abdel Qadr al Obaidi, a Sunni Muslim, and Patricia Butenis, the No. 2 diplomat at the U.S. Embassy.

more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/19871.html

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FYI: per google, Butenis is the Bangladeshi ambassador?

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/63239.htm

Patricia A. Butenis
Ambassador, Bangladesh
Term of Appointment: 03/17/2006 to present

Patricia A. Butenis was confirmed as Ambassador to Bangladesh by the Senate on February 16th, 2006, and sworn in on March 17, 2006. She is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, rank of Minister-Counselor. Prior to this assignment, Ms. Butenis was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad (2004-2006).

Ms. Butenis joined the Foreign Service in 1980. She has served as Vice Consul in Karachi (1980-82), Vice Consul/Political Officer in San Salvador (1982-85), Consul in New Delhi (1985-88), El Salvador Desk Officer (1988-90) and Consul (American Citizen Services Chief) in Bogotá, Colombia (1990-93).

She attended the National War College (1993-94) and served at the Visa Office, Field Liaison, in the Department of State (1994-97). She then served as Consul General in Warsaw (1998-2001) and Consul General in Bogotá, Colombia (2001-04).

Ms. Butenis was born in New Jersey. She received a B.A. in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.A. in International Relations from Columbia University.

[sam sarrha]

1. they fired on a young woman and her baby because she didnt stop just right , Incinerated them and

apparently shot the witnesses...

the bodies of the mother and child were burned so badly they couldn't be separated.. and were buried together.. how many "terrorists" did that create??

these are the same guys that got a $15,000,000,000 contract to build a stealth blimp to watch mexicans cross the boarder ..??

[daninthemoon]

2. Keith Olberman just had a report that there are 170,000 US troops

in Iraq, but there are 180,000 profiteering mercenaries and private contractors. Where is the congressional oversight?

[tekisui]

3. News from Iraq says at least 28 dead, more with life threatening injuries

This was a massacre of innocent civilians.
Blackwater is Bushdeathsquad.
I think we will be able to add another war in Iraq in the near future.

Shia/Sunni
Sunni/Sunni
Sunni/AQI
Kurds/IranTurkeySyria
Insurgents/Occupiers
Nationals/Occupiers
Iraqis/Blackwater