Five Blackwater Guards To Face Massacre Charges Next Week

[cal04]

Source: ABC News

Guards Told to Surrender to the FBI by Monday on Manslaughter, Assault Counts

Five Blackwater guards have been told to surrender to the FBI by Monday to face federal manslaughter and assault charges connected to the shooting deaths of 17 civilians at an traffic circle in Iraq last year, ABC News has learned.

Law enforcement officials say the grand jury hearing the case was in session Thursday in Washington, D.C. and was expected to have voted on the indictments.

The federal investigation revealed that two of the Blackwater guards did most of the shooting and are expected to face either murder or manslaughter charges, law enforcement officials said.

They identified the two as Dustin Heard, of Tennessee, a former Marine who joined Blackwater in 2004; and Paul Slough, of Texas, a former U.S. Army infantry soldier who joined Blackwater in 2006.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6396208&page=1

[lapfog_1]

1. They better hope that they aren't extradited to Iraq

at some point.

We won't convict them, unfortunately.

[superconnected]

2. Great, more pardons coming.

[barbtries]

3. good.

from all the reports i've read or seen, this was murder.

[MikeNearMcChord]

4. I would love to see Eric Prince's sorry excuse for a behind satnd trial also.

Blackwater should pursued by International Courts, for human rights violations.

[RollWithIt]

5. I have a very close friend who did 2 years in Iraq, he described the Contractors as "Trigger Happy."

His unit got called in several times after the Blackwater & other companies exploits.

[zogtheobvious]

8. Were these the...

Were these the cocksuckers from the video who were just driving around shooting randomly at civilians and cars?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMdHKOUm7NM

[Hulk]

6. Let there be justice for these sons-of-bitches......

And yes....the head of blackwater should also be held accountable.

Take them DOWN!!

[stevedeshazer]

7. George W. Bush is ultimately responsible for this.

The FBI will prosecute the little guys, deserving as they are. The Bush Crime Family gets off scot-free.

[kath]

9. So a massacre becomes a "manslaughter" charge??! Gee, how does that work?

Manslaughter only gets you a year or two in prison, at most.

[balantz]

10. I'll bet the few will take some kind of fall (maybe just a slap) for the company

so that it will look like justice has been served. Then Black/Steroids/Methwater can continue on being monsters.

[1776Forever]

11. For years from 2003 to 2007 I have written many many Senators about this & got nothing back but

letters that said they didn't think it was so bad for us to be supporting this covert Military that was taking the money that should have been going to our United States Military and putting in the damn pockets of people like Erik Prince. They are very scary and Darth Vader type people who would like nothing more then to control the world because they feel that they have the key to way to world should be run. One nation under corrupt private military rule led by people discussed in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQiZvtuLl-k

[douglas9]

12. 5 Guards Face U.S. Charges in Iraq Deaths (NYT)

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has obtained indictments against five guards for the security company Blackwater Worldwide for their involvement in a 2007 shooting in Baghdad that killed at least 17 Iraqi civilians and remains a thorn in Iraqi relations with the United States.

The indictments, obtained Thursday, remained sealed. But they could be made public in Washington as soon as Monday, according to people who have been briefed on the case and who spoke on condition of anonymity because the indictments had not been unsealed.

A sixth guard was negotiating a plea, those people said.

Peter A. Carr, a spokesman for the Justice Department, declined to comment on Friday. Anne E. Tyrrell, a spokeswoman for Blackwater, also declined to comment.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/06/washington/06blackwater.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print

[lebkuchen]

13. Two weeks before Christmas?

strange timing, unless it benefits them to get this show on the road before Bush is out of office, like the bankers and auto CEOs are doing.