Sources: Blackwater guards to surrender Monday

[ensho]

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/12/06/iraq.blackwater.indictment/index.html


Five former Blackwater security guards, indicted in a 2007 shooting incident in Baghdad that left 17 Iraqis dead, will surrender to the FBI on Monday, a source told CNN on Saturday.

-snip-

Blackwater Worldwide has been told by the government that the company will not face charges, according to several sources.

-snip-

Among the potential problems is that the law under which the charges are expected to be brought covers contractors working for the U.S. military, but the Blackwater guards were contracted by the State Department. Some independent legal experts have questioned whether U.S. courts would have jurisdiction in this type of case.

Also muddying the case are assurances of immunity initially given to the guards by State Department Diplomatic Security Agents, who were investigating the incident before the FBI tried to interview them when it took over the investigation.

-snip-

The indictments come within days of a new U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement, which pointedly specifies that U.S. civilian contractors will no longer be immune from Iraqi prosecution for crimes committed in that country.

The State Department renewed Blackwater's contract this year over strong objections from the Iraqi government.
----------------------------


Blackwater should be outlawed!

[madokie]

1. I think they will be outlawed

mrecernaries doesn't fit too well in a democracy after all.