Blackwater 'Blood Money' Angers Iraqis

[sabra]

Source: ABC News

Two Iraqi Families of Victims Killed by Blackwater Guards Tell ABC News They've Refused Compensation From the Company

At least two Iraqi families of victims killed by Blackwater security guards in September tell ABC News they have refused compensation offered by the company.

The father of a 9-year-old boy, who says his son was one of the 17 civilians killed when Blackwater guards, escorting a diplomatic convoy, opened fire at Baghdad's Nisour Square on Sept. 16, says he is trying to file a lawsuit against the company. He told ABCNews.com that Blackwater offered him $20,000 through an Iraqi prosecutor, but he refused the money.

Another Iraqi who lost both his wife and son in the incident says he too has refused the company's offer of compensation of $20,000 for each victim.

...

The company released a statement this afternoon saying: "At the request of U.S. Embassy Baghdad, Blackwater has reached out to the families of those killed or injured in Nisoor Square on September 16 as part of this condolence payment process. These are customary condolence payments, and are not an admission of guilt, but recognize that Iraq is an extremely dangerous place. When faced with an enemy intent on maximizing civilian casualties, innocent people will tragically be caught in the crossfire; when that happens, their suffering should not go unrecognized."

Officials familiar with the case told ABCNews.com last month that Blackwater had resisted U.S. government demands that the company pay at least $100,000 per death, claiming the U.S. government itself hasn't paid that much in similar situations.


Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4489251&page=1

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The father of an Iraqi boy, Ali, 9 and pictured above, says his son was one of 17 civilians killed when Blackwater security guards,
escorting a diplomatic convoy, opened fire at Baghdad's Nisour square Sept. 16. (ABC News)

[acmavm]

1. Can you imagine the grief of the father of that poor innocent little boy?

Blackwater is nothing more than a company licensed to murder.

[saigon68]

11. Lets hope the next Democratic Regime puts a stop to this barbarism

Thugs for hire, killers, gangsters and contract murderers.

And then they cried tears when 4 of their own were invited to the barbecue in Fallujah.

And in revenge they murdered a couple thousand old men, women and kids

For that "cleansing" Cheney should be invited to the Hague, where I hear they have a few of Milo's old jumpsuits waiting for his rotten ass.

[Frustratedlady]

2. What is going to be done with them?

Just the name makes me ill. Killings, rape, theft...all in our name.

[Supersedeas]

3. surely Condi can bump the hush money amount up--for her crony friends at Blackwater

[madmom]

4. 20 fucking thousand dollars!!!!!! WOW, just WOW!!!!

[Sam Ervin jret]

5. I knew these creeps thought life was cheep. But this cheep? That's like what ? A compact car?

If you don't get leather seats.

Yeh, about equal to the worth of a son. If you have no moral compass or a soul like the people of Blackwater.

[provis99]

10. $20k is probably what one of these mercenaries gets payed per month

Just absolutely pathetic; why does our government deal with these "contractors"? They're no better than professional assassins.

[hatrack]

6. Please note: "At the request of US Embassy Baghdad . . . . "

In their own press release, in the very first sentence, they tell the world that they "reached out" to the families of those they murdered only when asked to do so by the government.

I guess it just never crossed their minds that they might want to do so without prompting.

No corner of hell is hot enough for these venal sociopathic sons-of-bitches.

[TheLastMohican]

7. The truth is

Iraqi life isn't worth a penny to them.
They offered this payment only under severe public pressure. How many similar massacres actually occured and no journalist was around to record this carnage?
Actually in Baquba there was a similar shoot-anything-that-moves fest but then the whole city was under rebellion so that fact let that thing slide.

[alstephenson]

8. What a sweet and innocent face.

"These are customary condolence payments, and are not an admission of guilt". Disgusting and vile - I am once again ashamed to be an American.

[Joe Chi Minh]

9. Unfortnately, they had already reached out with their bullets all too effectively.