Is This Justice ?

In Baghdad on September 16th of 2007, six employees of Blackwater Security shot a man at point-blank range while he was unarmed and had his hands above his head. Then they machine-gunned the crowd in the Baghdad square, killing 16 others and wounding many more. These people were also innocent and unarmed.

At the time, the men were contract employees working for the United States State Department. Their assignment was to protect State Department employees. The State Department investigated the incident, but wound up giving the men immunity for their testimony. The men thought they'd been given complete immunity, but the State Department says they only said the men's testimony couldn't be used against them.

The State Department made such a mess of the investigation that it created an uproar among Iraqis and decent people everywhere. Finally, the FBI stepped in and conducted their own investigation, and it was hoped that justice would finally be done. But now that indictments have finally been handed down, I have to wonder if justice will ever be done.

If these men had done the same thing to an American crowd, they would have been labeled as terrorists and probably sentenced to death for multiple murder. But they didn't kill a white person -- just SEVENTEEN BROWN PEOPLE! So it can't really be called murder can it?

That seems to be the position of the government. Each man has been indicted on 14 counts of Voluntary Manslaughter (up to 10-year sentence), 20 counts of Attempted Manslaughter (up to 7-year sentence) and one count of Using a Firearm in Commission of a Violent Crime (30-year mandatory minimum sentence). It seems ridiculous, but the most serious charge is not killing seventeen unarmed people, but using a firearm to do it.

One of the six has pled guilty to Voluntary Manslaughter and Attempted Manslaughter (the firearm charge was dropped). Since it is extremely unlikely that the sentences would be stacked, it looks like he will get 10 years or less. The other five are scheduled to appear on January 6th for a probable cause hearing in Washington, D.C., where their attorneys will try to get the charges thrown out.

Compounding the injustice in this case is the fact that the five men who turned themselves in because of the indictments, were released on their personal recognizance by a Utah judge. In other words, they didn't even have to post a bond to be freed after killing seventeen people!

Frankly, I doubt if these men will be convicted of anything. There are too many people in this country that don't think killing unarmed innocent Iraqis is a crime, and they can probably get at least a couple of them on a jury.

In a just world, these men would be extradited to Iraq to stand trial for their heinous crime, but President Bush has already seen to it so that can't happen. So now it comes down to an American judge, and possibly an American jury. I don't have a lot of faith that these men will have to pay for their crime.

What do you think? Will justice be done?