WASHINGTON (AFP) — Five guards from US security firm Blackwater, which works for the State Department in Iraq, were charged Monday with shooting to death 14 Iraqi civilians and wounding 18 others in Baghdad last year.
A sixth guard pleaded guilty to charges of voluntary manslaughter and attempt to commit manslaughter for the shooting in Nisur Square on September 16, 2007, the US Department of Justice said.
The accused, who surrendered to federal authorities in Utah on Monday, face up to 10 years in jail on each of 14 manslaughter charges and seven years for each of 20 counts of attempted manslaughter, said Jeff Taylor, attorney for the District of Columbia.
They have also been charged with a weapons violation -- "discharging a firearm and destructive devices during a crime of violence" -- which carries a mandatory minimum of 30 years in prison, he said.
According to the indictment, the accused were part of a Blackwater detail guarding a convoy of trucks when they opened fire with automatic weapons on unarmed civilians in Baghdad.
"None of the victims of the shooting was armed," said Taylor.
"None of them was an insurgent. Many were shot while inside civilian vehicles attempting to flee. One victim was shot in the chest while standing in the street with his hands up," he said.
Blackwater has been accused repeatedly by its critics of having a cowboy mentality and a shoot first, ask questions later approach when carrying out security duties in Iraq.
The private company has said its guards opened fire in Nisur Square in self-defense after coming under attack.
But the Iraqi government has said an investigation into the incident concluded the Blackwater guards had begun shooting without cause.
After the incident the Iraqi government pressed the State Department to withdraw Blackwater from the country, but the security firm's contract was renewed earlier this year.
On Monday, Blackwater insisted its personnel "operate according to strict rules for use of force issued by the US government."
"Based on the information available to us ... we understand that these individuals acted within the rules set forth for them by the government and that no criminal violations occurred," the company said.
But, it added, if any individual is determined to have acted improperly, "then Blackwater supports holding that person accountable."
A State Department review panel last year said that insufficient oversight of the more than 2,500 private security firms it employs in Iraq to protect diplomats and guard facilities has "undermined confidence" in those contractors, both among Iraqis and US military commanders.
The charges against the five guards were the first to be brought under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA) against private contractors, according to Taylor.
Passed in 2000, MEJA gives the US judicial system the "ability to exercise jurisdictional control over American civilians committing felonies on foreign soil," according to an official at the Pentagon.
But only since an amendment to the act in 2004 expanded the reach of MEJA to private contractors who provide services "in support of the mission of the Department of Defense overseas" has it been possible to prosecute private contractors under MEJA, said Taylor.
The Iraqi authorities have said they may seek to bring the Blackwater guards charged Monday to trial in Iraq.
"The Iraqi government stresses its rights and that Blackwater guards have committed crimes against Iraqi victims. The government reserves the right to prosecute them," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh has said.
The State Department declined to comment on Monday's indictments.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
