Blackwater Guards Fired at Fleeing Cars, [U.S.] Soldiers Say; [ Incident Called 'Criminal']

Wash Post ^ | Oct 12 07 | Sudarsan Raghavan and Josh White

[freedomdefender]

Blackwater USA guards shot at Iraqi civilians as they tried to drive away from a Baghdad square on Sept. 16, according to a report compiled by the first U.S. soldiers to arrive at the scene, where they found no evidence that Iraqis had fired weapons.

"It appeared to me they were fleeing the scene when they were engaged. It had every indication of an excessive shooting," said Lt. Col. Mike Tarsa, whose soldiers reached Nisoor Square 20 to 25 minutes after the gunfire subsided. His soldiers' report -- based upon their observations at the scene, eyewitness interviews and discussions with Iraqi police -- concluded that there was "no enemy activity involved" and described the shootings as a "criminal event." Their conclusions mirrored those reached by the Iraqi government, which has said the Blackwater guards killed 17 people.

[elhombrelibre]

The only good thing I know about Blackwater is that they haven’t lost a person they’re protecting. That’s quite a big deal though after this many years. Other companies have also done some great things, but most of them remain pretty low key. One company that worked where I was had a few men who took to wearing t-shirts that read “Team Infidel.” But, of course, in their case if anyone came along and read it and was offended it would probably have been too late for either one of them to do much about it since they usually didn’t mix with the people outside the wire. In other words, only if a fire fight went bad would the offended person have been able to read the shirt in the first place and by then it would have been too late to matter.

[4woodenboats]

I didn't need your correcting then, and I sure as heck don't need your haughty attitude now.

Good grief, people are going to think you've got a crush on me.....

[wtc911]

You can think something without actually writing it; I believe he was inferring from your comments to your line of thinking.

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That is nonsense. No genuine or honest debate can occur when one side is permitted to imagine what the other side thinks. Too much of that goes on here and whenever I see it directed toward me I declare it the childish and dishonest practice that it is and cease any further dialogue with the poster.

[wtc911]

And now you know why the US government isn't too keen on hiring ex-Minutemen to help protect our Southern border.

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Another 'Holy Mackerel!" moment from our resident profiteer. I bet that the Minutemen would be more effective if they just followed you around.

[Proud2BAmerican]

I agree, and I believe that’s why the poster phrased it in the form of a question, rather than attributing it as a matter of fact.

[Proud2BAmerican]

OK.