http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/10/22/358076714/blackwater-guards-found-guilty-in-2007-shootings-in-iraq"Four private security guards working for the Blackwater Worldwide firm who were charged in the 2007 shootings of more than 30 Iraqis have been found guilty by a federal jury.
Nicholas Slatten was found guilty of first-degree murder, and three others — Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard — were found guilty of multiple counts of voluntary manslaughter."
"The verdicts marked a victory for prosecutors, who argued in a 10-week trial that the defendants fired wildly and out-of-control in a botched security operation after one of them falsely claimed to believe the driver of an approaching vehicle was a car bomber.
The guards claimed they acted in self-defense and responded appropriately to the car bomb threat and the sound of incoming AK-47 gunfire, their defense said."
"The Associated Press reports: "The four men were charged with a combined 33 counts in the shootings, but the jury had reached verdicts on only part of the charges after weeks of deliberations. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth allowed the jury to announce the verdicts agreed upon, with the expectation jurors would continue deliberating on the other counts."
Sounds like they almost got off on a legal technicality in 2009, too. This is the sort of thing I wish we valued enough to investigate better and more frequently. War is an unfortunate reality, but there is never reason for a private American contracting company to massacre innocent civilians.
