“It’s really surprising that Blackwater is still out there killing people.”
That’s a quote from the director of Iraq’s state-run television network, looking back in anger to an February shooting that prefigured the Nisour Square incident in September. In February, Blackwater guards on the roof of the Justice Ministry building in Baghdad’s Salihiya neighborhood shot and killed three security guards at the nearby Iraqiya TV compound. There was no recompense to the victims’ families. A cursory State Department investigation cleared Blackwater in full. And an Iraqi judge, citing CPA Order 17 –which gave U.S. contractors immunity from Iraqi prosecution — rejected a court petition filed by the network.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=179419