Posted by Paul Cassell:
Blackwater Indictment and Mandatory Minimum Counts for Carrying Weapons in the
Line of Duty
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_12_07-2008_12_13.shtml#1228850137
Yesterday the Justice Department indicted five Blackwater security
contractors for their role in the deaths of civilians in Iraq that
arose during a firefight with Iraqi insurgents on September 16, 2007
in Baghdad.
I have played a small role in the defense of the case and thought I
would post a few links that may be of interest to those following the
case.
The defense view of the case is as follows:
On September 16, 2007, on the dangerous streets of Baghdad, a State
Department official and her security detail were attacked by
insurgents using a roadside bomb. A second security team, including
our clients, was sent to assist and in the process of securing an
escape route were drawn into a firefight with insurgents in Nissor
Square. Iraqi insurgents do not wear uniforms, and often disguise
themselves as Iraqi soldiers or police to ambush U.S. forces. The
tools of these insurgents include car bombs, roadside bombs,
suicide bombers and automatic weapons. Faced with this enemy, these
young men were fighting for their lives in a crowded, dangerous and
chaotic environment. It is an unfortunate fact of war that in a
country where terrorists and insurgents hide behind civilians to
attack U.S. personnel, civilian casualties will result. These
casualties are not the fault of our military and security forces
however, but rather the fault of the insurgents who use women and
children as shields, behind which they launch their cowardly
attacks. Today, prosecutors in Washington, DC, seated comfortably
in the safety of well guarded offices three thousand miles away
from this deadly war zone, have seen fit to second guess how these
decorated veterans of the military fought for the lives of their
comrades and themselves. Worse they have charged these young men
with offenses which could put them in prison for the rest of their
lives for their efforts to save their own lives and the lives of
others.
[1]Here you can find the full press statement from the defense team
about the defense perspective on the case.
There are very substantial jurisdictional and venue arguments that the
defense has raised, including in particular whether the Justice
Department has jurisdiction to try State Department contractors under
a law designed to cover military personnel and whether jurisdiction
lies in the District of Columbia rather than Utah. [2]Here is the
defense brief on these issues.
Perhaps the most interesting issue for readers of this blog may be the
fact that the Government has alleged 30 year mandatory minimum prison
time offenses against the contractors for recklessly discharging their
Government-issued weapons (including machine guns) during the
firefight. Apart from any of the other aspects of the case, that
charge particularly strikes me as overreaching.
References
1. http://www.raven23.com/uploads/Press_Statement_12-8-08.pdf
2. http://www.raven23.com/uploads/Memo_for_Finding_No_PC_Jur_Ven.pdf
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