Blackwater Road Massacre
At a time when Maliki is insisting that action be taken against Blackwater mercenaries in Iraq, this video shows what is purported to be Blackwater personnel taking pot shots at any car which comes up behind them. If this video is real, then what we are watching is truly shocking, and it demands that the amnesty given to civilian contractors must be withdrawn immediately.
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6 comments:
On the one hand, I can understand shooting at vehicles which come rushing up behind you, as they are potential attacks (that "potential" part seems very important as a tempering factor, though). But this is not the military, and however distinctive Blackwater vehicles may be, I'll bet there are others with similar vehicles (unlike the military). If Blackwater is going to act like a Military organization, then they need to be just as answerable as the Military for their actions (or maybe they already are and I'm being naive about military accountability).
Another question: Are any deaths that occur because of incidents like this included in our skewed body counts, or is this like a shot to the wrong side of the head, and thus ignored?
Dave,
They are not accountable at all as Bush has insisted that they have immunity from prosecution. Were a member of the military to have behaved in a similar fashion I think they would have been prosecuted.
And as for body counts, I have no idea if these are included. I suspect if they are the blame will be laid at the door of insurgents...
My understanding of this video is that it was made by the contractors themselves. As far as legitimate targets, yes, approaching cars can by hostile but you can hear at one point in the video one of the occupants say "slow down," almost making it sound lie they wanted the distance to close so they could take a few shots.
What astonishes me, Bhc, is that there is no public outrage over this video.
It exists on the net, and on blogs like this one, but it should be run on national television. It's simply outrageous.
So where is the outrage over what these guys are doing?
give it time and i'm sure the mainstream media will pickup on this video. then serious questions will start to be asked.
I hope so, Mike. But it's taking a bloody long time.
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