Why don't the Iraqis put them on trial, being a sovereign nation and all?

[RB TexLa]

Iraq wants Blackwater to pay $136 million compensation

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi government wants security firm Blackwater to pay $8 million in compensation to each of the families of 17 people killed in a shooting, a senior government source said on Tuesday.

The source said the figure was roughly in line with compensation paid by the Libyan government to the families of the 270 people killed in the 1988 Lockerbie airline bombing over Scotland.

"We want them to pay $8 million for each family," the source told Reuters. "The same level as the compensation for the Lockerbie victims."

Blackwater had been told of the demand, the source said. It was unclear what the private American firm's response was.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said on Sunday an investigation set up by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had found Blackwater "deliberately killed" the 17 people in the September 16 shooting in western Baghdad.




http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071009/ts_nm/iraq_blackwater_dc_1

[Botany]

1. Because the Iraqis do not control Iraq .... we do (sort of)

And Blackwater is above the law in Iraq as per the bush crime family.

[mmonk]

2. They aren't sovereign.

They are an occupied country under rule of the United States.

[RB TexLa]

3. but, but, but, I heard a guy standing behind a fancy seal saying they were

a sovereign nation. It looked like he was in the White House saying it.

[Solly Mack]

4. that veneer of sovereignty is so the US can get away with its crimes

and you don't gotta take my word for it - look it up. The UN recognized Iraq as "sovereign" in June of 2004.

What that did was eliminate the legal responsibility of the US as an occupying power - so the US couldn't be held accountable for the legal obligations of a occupying power.

You know it's a joke..and a cruel and deadly one at that...and I know it's a joke...the US is still the occupying country regardless of the bullshit "hand-over". But Shrub got his veneer of legal immunity from the UN.

Ah, heck...let me:

Resolution 1546 (2004) Adopted Unanimously
Text of U.N. Security Council Resolution

"Following is the text of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1546, adopted unanimously June 8, which endorses the new interim government of Iraq, allows the multinational force to provide security in partnership with the new government, sets out a leading role for the U.N. in helping the political process over the next year, and calls upon the international community to aid Iraq in its transition:"

"Welcoming the beginning of a new phase in Iraq's transition to a democratically elected government, and looking forward to the end of the occupation and the assumption of full responsibility and authority by a fully sovereign and independent Interim Government of Iraq by 30 June 2004,


Reaffirming the independence, sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of Iraq,
Reaffirming also the right of the Iraqi people freely to determine their own political future and control their own natural resources"


Supposedly, Iraq could have kicked the US out in 2004...being sovereign and all that...but Iraq wasn't and isn't sovereign. Iraq is still being occupied by the US....but Bush still got his legal immunity from the UN. And now legally (coughchokespew) the US is in Iraq at the request of Iraq.


Don't make it right. Don't make it fair. Don't make it just. But it is what it is...

and folks can whine, moan and groan about it...won't change that veneer of immunity. It's all just window-dressing...but it's there.

Anyone hoping the UN will help those being tortured need to remember June 30, 2004.The day the UN gave Shrub legal protection to occupy a country without any of the legal obligations for doing so.