Breaking - Holder about to announce new Federal Charges

[malaise]

against four police officers for shooting innocent civilians on the bridge during Hurricane Katrina.

This is great news.

sp.

[Heidi]

1. Recommended.

:kick:

[malaise]

14. Press conference with Holder coming up

on GEM$NBC

[EFerrari]

2. Good.

:grr:

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. It's about time.. I was wondering if this shit was ever going to hit

the fan... Kicked and recommened.

[virginia mountainman]

4. K & R! nt

[FiveGoodMen]

5. Good.

[myrna minx]

6. This is great news. n/t

[me b zola]

7. K&R

[leftstreet]

8. K&R

[uberblonde]

9. That IS good news.

Nice to hear some...

[47of74]

10. And I hope these scum spend the rest of their lives in prison

[Cetacea]

11. K&R

This would not have been prosecuted under con rule.

[bobbolink]

12. I'm glad I lived long enough to hear this.

Unfortunately, my cynicism is now such that I will believe the justice when (if) I see it.

Never Forget Katrina!

[Hannah Bell]

13. kr

[Schema Thing]

15. yes.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

16. The wheels of Justice ....

Damn, that is good news.

[Soylent Brice]

17. awesome. n/t

[metapunditedgy]

18. Waiting eagerly for more details... n/t

[malaise]

19. Details

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dcnow/2010/07/6-police-officers-charged-in-new-orleans-danziger-bridge-shootings-after-katrina-.html
<snip>
In the indictment unsealed on Tuesday, the government accused four officers of shooting unarmed people on the bridge. The four and two supervisors were accused of trying to cover up the incident. Two people died and four were wounded in the shootings.

“As our investigation of the Danziger Bridge incident shows, the Justice Department will vigorously pursue anyone who allegedly violated the law,” Atty. Gen. Eric Holder said in a prepared statement. “Put simply, we will not tolerate wrongdoing by those who have sworn to protect the public.”

According to the indictment, Sgts. Robert Gisevius and Kenneth Bowen, and officers Anthony Villavaso and Robert Faulcon were charged in the shootings. They and Sgts. Arthur Kaufman and Gerard Dugue were accused of helping to obstruct justice in the subsequent investigations.

The four officers charged with killing civilians face maximum penalties of life in prison or the death penalty. The officers face additional penalties for charges related to a conspiracy to cover up what had happened on the bridge, and conspiracies to file charges against two of the victims.

Kaufman faces a maximum of 120 years in prison, and Dugue faces a maximum 70 years in prison.

[metapunditedgy]

20. It's heartwarming to see the JD also going after the guys who helped cover up the incident

after the fact. Things won't really change until the enablers are taken down, too.

[malaise]

25. Well this gives me hope that perhaps one day we'll

see Bush and Cheney charged for the use of torture. The law is the law.

[liberation]

33. A few two bit police officers are a few orders of magnitude down in the scale of importance as Bush

I just found a quarter in the floor, but that would not get my hopes up expecting a few hundred million dollars lying around that same floor...

Let me tell you the end of the movie: it ain't gonna happen.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

48. Your opinion doesn't take my hope away

and it is good to keep hope alive - they ARE criminals, after all, with a LONG list of crimes.

[KeepItReal]

21. I'm glad the Justice Departmet stayed on this case. Those cops were monsters.

They should also investigate the blockage of the bridges linking New Orleans to the Jefferson Parish immediately after Kartina. People could have *walked* to safety, but JP law enforcement stopped them.

"A federal judge Monday dismissed a lawsuit over a police blockade that kept some Hurricane Katrina victims from crossing a bridge out of New Orleans in the storm’s aftermath.

U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon ruled that closing the Crescent City Connection to pedestrians after the August 2005 hurricane didn’t amount to an “unreasonable restraint of liberty.”

The judge dismissed Tracy and Dorothy Dickerson’s civil rights claims against the city of Gretna; the city’s police chief, Arthur Lawson; the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office; and Sheriff Newell Normand."

http://neworleanscitybusiness.com/blog/2010/02/02/judge-dismisses-case-over-katrina-bridge-blockade/

[1776Forever]

22. Everytime I hear about this I think of this article: "Blackwater Training US Police"

Back in 2007 this came out:

Blackwater Training US Police
Wayne Madsen Report
10-15-7

http://www.rense.com/general78/blackwater.htm

The mercenary firm Blackwater USA is well known for the controversy involving its "shoot first, ask no questions" policy in Iraq. It is also known that Louisiana's Department of Homeland Security contracted with Blackwater to provide public law enforcement services in New Orleans following hurricane Katrina. Blackwater is also planning to establish regional training centers in Potrero, California and Mount Carroll, Illinois, billed as Blackwater West and Blackwater North, respectively.

These training centers, in addition to Blackwater's Lodge and Training Center in Moyock, North Carolina -- Blackwater East -- and a possible fourth rumored to be slated for the Pacific Northwest -- Blackwater Northwest -- may result in the establishment of a network of Blackwater-trained police, sheriffs, and other police units around the country. Given Blackwater's dismal record on human rights and brutality, this spells trouble for civilian control of police and paramilitary forces in the United States, from major metropolitan areas to small rural towns.

(more at link)

...................

So darn sad!

[Poboy]

23. I can confirm. About one year after the storm, I was walking

I can confirm. About one year after the storm, I was walking down Decatur St.. just past Canal St. (on the sidewalk by Saks 5th ave. -store).
An armed guy in full Blackwater gear was walking in the opposite direction. I said to myself, 'you gotta be shitting me'. I mumbled 'Blackwater?!' under my breath as we crossed paths.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

31. K&R

[malaise]

26. Will Blackwater ever pay?

Stop them or forget about democracy and the rule of law.

[1776Forever]

36. Here's a good article on what Xe is facing and why it is up for "sale"......

'I just want the truth,' say families in Blackwater case
By Bill Sizemore
The Virginian-Pilot
© July 6, 2010

http://hamptonroads.com/2010/07/i-just-want-truth-say-families-blackwater-case

.....Having already raised fundamental issues of battlefield accountability and liability in an era of increasingly privatized warfare, the Fallujah case now seems poised to plow new legal ground over whether and how disputes over battlefield deaths can be resolved by arbitration.

This new development comes at a time when Blackwater founder Erik Prince has put the company, now known as Xe, up for sale and has settled several other lawsuits spawned by the company's security and military support work in Iraq and Afghanistan.

........In addition, the government is appealing the dismissal of criminal charges against five ex-Blackwater guards involved in the Nisoor Square shootings. Two other ex-Blackwater contractors are on trial in Norfolk for the alleged murders of two civilians in Afghanistan.

In April, five former Blackwater executives were indicted on federal firearms charges.

"All this litigation definitely is going to figure into the valuation of the company in a sale," Horton said.

If the Fallujah plaintiffs successfully steer their case from arbitration back into state court where there is the potential for a large jury award, that could translate into a steeper discount to the sale price, he said.

..............

Makes one wonder what the "role" in the Iraq War was in the first place? You are so right - Will Prince ever pay and will we ever know the entire picture of what happen?

[malaise]

38. Thanks

:hi:

[TBF]

24. K&R nt

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

27. K&R

[Warren Stupidity]

28. That would be change I could believe in.

[blondeatlast]

29. Very good news. nt

[Robeson]

30. Kick. Great news.

[rhett o rick]

32. I want to give the Pres credit here. Justice may be served. nm

[SusanaMontana41]

34. Kicked and recommended!

n/t

[Enthusiast]

35. Oh, it's just Obama's racist

justice department getting back at Whitey for slavery!



















:hide: :sarcasm:

[sui generis]

37. as opposed to guilty civilians?

:P just my pet peeve with use of the word "innocent". Carry on.

[florida08]

39. wonderful news

for the families of the slain and for justice. Can we see more of this please!

[caseymoz]

40. Update: they could face the death penalty with these charges

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/14/cops-may-face-death-penal_n_645690.html

despite the blood lust I feel about it, I don't think I'd go for the death penalty in these cases.

[OnlinePoker]

44. No Death Penalty

Put them in general population...they'll wish they were dead.

[w4rma]

41. Very good. (nt)

[Ticonderoga]

42. Great

So I guess all we need to do now is sit back and wait for the Cheney/Bu$h indictments to come downas well?

[DevonRex]

43. Excellent news. Thank you for letting us know. nt

[Solly Mack]

45. k/r

[Heidi]

46. Kick.

:kick:

[avaistheone1]

47. kicked and strongly recommended

[Rex]

49. Whaaaaa? I missed that story! What the HELL!?!

I need to log off and go sit and contemplate WHY we exist again...

[Roy Rolling]

50. A sobering reminder

I live in New Orleans and was huddled in the dark around a battery-powered radio when this story came out. There were cheers from people who thought that the roving bands of looters and plunderers had finally got their due. (there WERE roving gangs preying on those who were "left behind") But that is not the point. The point is, when there is anarchy, that is how you can expect people to act. So the morons that advocate "second amendment solutions" forget that they are not the only ones that will be armed. If society polarizes itself that is the eventual outcome---anarchy and killing. In this case, it is only by the diligent work of other law enforcement people do we finally know that a mentally-handicapped man was killed and beaten unmercifully. If we "take the law in our own hands" then both sides lose. I would like to think that people on this site value peace above lawlessness and reason above extremism. Sometimess justice takes a long time---in this case, almost five years. So, impatience favors evil.

[Altoid_Cyclist]

51. WTAE in Pittsburgh ran this story last year about vigilantes shooting unarmed African-Americans.

This might be old news, but yesterday reminded me of the news when it first ran. Chilling doesn't even begin to describe some of the details in the articles.

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/20009491/detail.html

NEW ORLEANS -- A man is on tape admitting he and others shot more than 30 people in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and two Pittsburgh men are sharing the powerful piece of video they shot while volunteering in New Orleans in 2005.

Team 4 investigative reporter Jim Parsons has linked the tape to an ongoing federal investigation. Now, the FBI is asking new questions.

The following is a transcript of the Team 4 report that first aired July 9, 2009, on WTAE Channel 4 Action News at 11 p.m.

More here: http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/20009491/detail.html

This is a WTAE follow up to the original story.

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/20001546/detail.html

Mayor Ray Nagin confirms that some of his officers are under investigation for their possible involvement in the disappearance and death of a New Orleans man in early September 2005, and a videotape that's been collecting dust here in Pittsburgh -- until Team 4 discovered it and connected it to the case -- could play an important role.

Istvan Balogh, in 2005: "We found this dead body and this completely burnt-up vehicle."

Henry Glover was shot during the chaos of Hurricane Katrina.


Two Pittsburgh private detectives -- Istvan Balogh and Mike Orsini -- were in New Orleans in the days after Hurricane Katrina. They had their video camera when they stumbled across this scorched car. And inside, human remains.

Read more: http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/20001546/detail.html

[DesertDiamond]

52. YES!!!