State Dept. Renews Blackwater Contract in Iraq Despite Pentagon Labeling Sept. Baghdad Killing of 17 Civilians "A Criminal Event : Indybay

The US military announced on Saturday its first case against a civilian contractor since 1968. Iraqi-Canadian Alaa “Alex” Mohammad Ali was charged with aggravated assault for allegedly stabbing another contractor in February. Ali fled Saddam’s Iraq in the 1990s and became a military translator for the United States. He is the first person to be charged under the 2006 Congressional amendment that allows military authorities to prosecute crimes committed by civilians working with the US armed forces. Iraqi courts are prevented from prosecuting foreign military contractors because of a 2004 law passed under the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority.

The military’s announcement came just a day after the State Department announced that it was extending the private military firm Blackwater’s contract in Baghdad for another year. This comes as the FBI is continuing its investigation into the September 2007 Nisour Square shooting where Blackwater guards were accused of killing 17 Iraqi civilians.

On Thursday Jeremy Scahill, Democracy Now! correspondent and author of “Blackwater: The Rise of the World”s Most Powerful Mercenary Army," questioned Blackwater’s Vice President Martin Strong about the accountability of private military contractors in Iraq. They were both at a conference here in New York organized by NYU’s Center for Law and Security titled “Privatizing Defense: Blackwater, Contractors, and American Security.”

Jeremy Scahill joins us in our firehouse studio.

Jeremy Scahill, independent journalist, Democracy Now! correspondent and author of the bestselling “Blackwater: The Rise of the World”s most powerful Mercenary Army."

State Dept. Renews Blackwater Contract in Iraq Despite Pentagon Labeling Sept. Baghdad Killing of 17 Civilians "A Criminal Event

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