5 Witnesses Insist Iraqis Didn't Fire On Guards

[cal04]

State Dept. to Study System for Security

Five eyewitnesses to a Sept. 16 shooting incident in Baghdad involving the private security firm Blackwater USA insisted that company guards fired without provocation, forcing civilians and Iraqi police to run for cover, and that the Iraqi officers did not return fire.

The eyewitnesses and a senior Iraqi police official close to an investigation of the incident contradicted initial accounts provided by the company and the State Department, which employs Blackwater to protect U.S. diplomats. At least 11 Iraqis died in the shootings, which have focused attention on the actions of largely unregulated security companies operating in Iraq.

"The Iraqi security forces had the right to shoot at them when they saw the (Blackwater) convoy shooting at the people, but they did not shoot at the convoy," said Ahmed Ali Jassim, 19, a maintenance worker who saw the incident. "When they see Iraqis getting shot like that, their blood would be boiling. But no one crossed the limits."

The latest eyewitness accounts emerged as the State Department announced the creation of a high-level panel to assess whether appropriate rules are in place for the three private firms that protect U.S. diplomats and other civilian officials, whether the companies -- including the largest, Blackwater -- are following those rules, and whether the system should be altered or scrapped altogether.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/28/AR2007092802163.html?hpid=topnews

[Enrique]

1. there's video of this isn't there?

or am I thinking of a different incident

[Stargazer99]

2. Yes, my understanding is that there is a video and how

much you want to bet Bush won't let it be shown in the US because all hell would break lose and he knows it. Welcome to fascist America.

[Breeze54]

3. ABC covered this indepth tonight on the Nightly News and

all the Blackwater USA employee's involved have submitted written accounts and their accounts
are completely opposite of the Iraqi victims, including an Iraqi lawyer who was shot four times
in the back, according to ABC and he was on video. I haven't checked but I'll bet ABC has a video
on their website available.

Blackwater USA should lose their contracts and be expelled from the country!