In Baghdad, Victims of Blackwater's Nisour Square Bloodbath Want Justice, Not Money

Iraqis are pressing their government to obtain legal redress against five former employees of private security firm Blackwater who are accused of killing civilians in Baghdad in 2007.

In a statement to reporters on January 4, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said his government had filed a lawsuit against the security firm in the United States and would shortly be doing so under the Iraqi legal system as well, after a US court dropped charges against the five men.

Baghdad had earlier called the court's decision "unacceptable and unfair".

On December 31, the District of Columbia circuit court threw out charges from the US Justice Department against the former Blackwater employees in relation to the deaths of 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians and injuries sustained by at least 18 others.

The security firm insists that its staff members acted in self-defence after they were attacked with firearms and improvised explosive devices while escorting a US State Department vehicle. Iraqi officials insist the shooting, at a busy urban intersection, was indiscriminate and unprovoked.

The shooting sparked furious protests from the Iraqi government at the time and forced Washington to rethink its links with security contractors, whose role in fulfilling paramilitary functions in Iraq was becoming increasingly controversial.

People who were wounded or lost relatives in the attack, which became known in Iraq as the Nisour Square Massacre, were stunned by the US court ruling and say they must now hope that their own government will pursue justice.

"We did place hope in the American court system, but this has really shocked and disappointed me. I think the decision is unfair and I don't know why the court issued it," said Haider Ahmed, 35, a taxi driver who was shot twice by Blackwater guards during the incident.

"The Blackwater workers must pay for their mistakes. They killed and wounded people when we'd done did nothing to them."

He added, "I've heard the strong denouncement from our government. Now I hope it's going to do something."

The decision by US federal judge Ricardo Urbina to dismiss charges of manslaughter, attempted manslaughter and weapons violations was based on concerns that the constitutional rights of the accused were under threat. US prosecutors had access to statements that the individuals involved were required to give to the State Department at the time, and use of this testimony or potentially incriminating information drawn from it would have violated their rights.

Blackwater, now Xe Services, ended its Iraq operations last May when the US government did not renew its contract.

Like many Iraqis, Ahmed is outraged that from 2003 to 2009, guards employed by foreign private security firms like Blackwater enjoyed immunity from prosecution in Iraq if their actions were part of protecting US citizens.

He remains skeptical of the chances of successful legal action.

"I never considered filing a case against Blackwater, nor did I even try to meet an Iraqi official, because I don't believe that Americans will ever be punished for killing Iraqis," he told IWPR. "We are under their occupation, and we are at their mercy."

In his own case, Ahmed says Blackwater paid him 3,500 US dollars for the destruction of his vehicle, but says the money went on his medical bills and in any case was worth far less than the true value of his car.

Details of the US lawsuit referred to by Prime Minister Maliki, who faces a tough re-election bid in March, have not yet been made public. The government has already made it clear that it will support any private lawsuit filed in a US court by victims of the Blackwater shootings or their relatives.

By January 5, the day after Maliki's statement, members of Iraq's parliament were already urging the administration to step up legal pressure on Blackwater.