FIVE Blackwater Worldwide security guards are expected to appear in a US court this week to answer to manslaughter charges in the 2007 shooting deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad.
Expected to enter not guilty pleas are former marines Donald Ball, Dustin Heard and Evan Liberty and army veterans Nick Slatten and Paul Slough.
A sixth guard – Jeremy Ridgeway – has pleaded guilty to one count each of manslaughter, attempted mans
laughter, and aiding and abetting. He has agreed to co-operate with investigators.
Prosecutors said the men unleashed an attack on unarmed Iraqis, including women and children.
But the defendants contend they opened fire after coming under attack when a car in a State Department convoy they were escorting broke down.
Blackwater radio logs made available to the press by a defence lawyer last month raised questions about prosecutors' claims that the guards' shooting was unprovoked.
The log transcripts describe a hectic eight minutes in which the guards repeatedly reported incoming gunfire from insurgents and Iraqi police.
Blackwater is the largest contractor providing security in Iraq. Most of its work for the State Department is in protecting US diplomats in Iraq. The company has not been charged in connection with the shooting.
"The tragic events in Nisoor Square were shocking and a violation of basic human rights," said the FBI assistant director, Joseph Persichini.
The alleged shooting unfolded in the crowded square, where prosecutors say civilians were going about their lives.
The guards allegedly tried to shut the intersection after a car bombing elsewhere in the city.
Witnesses claim the guards opened fire unprovoked. Blackwater says its guards were ambushed by insurgents while responding to a car bombing.
Pat Rowan, the national security prosecutor, said: "At least 34 unarmed Iraqi civilians, including women and children, were killed or injured without justification or provocation by these Blackwater guards."
Paul Cassell, a defence lawyer, said: "We think it's pure and simply a case of self-defence. Tragically, people did die."
Although the case has been assigned to a judge in Washington DC, the accused men want it moved to Utah, the state in which they surrendered. There they have a good chance of finding a conservative jury pool, made up of people more likely to support the Iraq war.
The guards face the prospect of 30-year mandatory prison terms.
Since the shooting, the company has been a flashpoint in the debate on how heavily the United States relies on contractors in war zones.
BACKGROUNDTHIS high-profile incident led to widespread calls for reform of private security contractors, who at the time operated free from the threat of prosecution by Iraqi authorities.
As the two countries negotiated the security agreement that outlines the withdrawal of US troops by the end of 2011, Iraqis demanded that the pact remove private security contractors' exemption from Iraqi law. The US state department relies heavily on contractors to protect its diplomats in Iraq, as it does not have the manpower or equipment to do so.
No other private security contractor has Blackwater's range of resources, particularly its fleet of helicopters and planes.
