Blackwater Updates

A lot going on in the Blackwater case:

• The State Department is operating as an arm of a private corporation.

Nearly four weeks after the deadly shootings at a central Baghdad square involving the Blackwater USA private security firm, American military officials and Iraqi investigators say the F.B.I. and State Department are refusing to share information with them on their investigation into the killings.

The American military has not been allowed to speak to Blackwater employees who were in Nisour Square that day, nor have military officials been shown the Blackwater vehicle that the company and State Department officials have said was disabled during the events of Sept. 16 just west of the heavily fortified Green Zone, according to a senior American military officer [...]

However, Iraqi investigators say the F.B.I. and State Department have not provided information about the investigation to their Iraqi counterparts, despite repeated requests. A senior Iraqi investigator said that American military officers had also interviewed Iraqi witnesses, collected evidence from Nisour Square and talked to Iraqi investigators.

“We haven’t received any information from the Americans about their own two investigations,” the senior Iraqi investigator said. “F.B.I. investigators have asked us to help them and share our information, as they have started a third investigation.”

The vehicle is actually still sitting there in Baghdad. No forensic work has been done on it, no evidence has been collected. This is why I was skeptical of that press release masquerading as a news item that the State Department was about to drop Blackwater. Nonsense.

• The UN suggests that Blackwater has committed war crimes.

[Ivana Vuco, senior human rights officer] told a news conference that private security contractors were still subject to international humanitarian law and that meant there were specific consequences for any breach.

"Investigations as to whether or not crimes against humanity, war crimes, are being committed and obviously the consequences of that is something that we will be paying attention to and advocating for," she told a news conference.

This is almost the least of the human rights worries in Iraq, what with 4 million refugees and the like. But war criminals must not be allowed to avoid prosecution.

• And to that end, family members of those slain in Nissour Square are suing Blackwater in US court, under the Alien Tort Claims Act.

The Center for Constitutional Rights is filing a lawsuit today under the Alien Tort Claims Act on behalf of the families of three of the Iraqis killed, as well as another Iraqi who was injured, when Blackwater guards shot dead 17 Iraqis and injured many more [...]

SUSAN BURKE, CCR: We were approached by the families of three gentlemen who were shot and killed, as well as a gentleman who was very seriously injured. They came to us because they know of our work representing the torture victims at Abu Ghraib, and they asked us whether it would be possible to try to get some form of justice, some form of accountability, against this rogue corporation.

So we put together a lawsuit that is being filed this morning in federal court in the District of Columbia on behalf of the families of three gentlemen who were killed: Mr. Atban, Mr. Abbass and Mr. Ibraheem The three gentlemen, amongst them, had fourteen children, including one, Mr. Atban, had a newborn baby daughter. So, needless to say, we are very interested in holding this company accountable and in pursuing the lawsuit vigorously.

Later in that interview, Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater, explained that the legislation which passed the House this week, which would put Blackwater under US law, is "problematic" because it legitimizes their use as a private sector alternative to the military. Not sure if I agree, but it's an interesting perspective.