U.S. to Appeal Blackwater Decision

The New York Times ^ | January 23, 2010 | AP

[John W]

BAGHDAD (AP) -- The U.S. will appeal a court decision dismissing manslaughter charges against five Blackwater Worldwide security contractors involved in a deadly 2007 Baghdad shooting, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Saturday.

Biden's announcement after a meeting with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani shows just how diplomatically sensitive the incident remains nearly three years later.

[OldDeckHand]

I would add that the one exception to that rule is prosecutorial misconduct. If a case is dismissed for prosecutorial misconduct prior to jury being empaneled, or before a verdict has been reached, then jeopardy would attach. That wasn’t the case here. In this instance, the Court found that the evidence collected was in violation of defendants constitutional rights, but he didn’t find prosecutorial misconduct.

[TornadoAlley3]

[wardaddy]

u need to read up exactly how the Quayle spelling thing went down

it was classic screw up by the school folks pounced on by the lefty media

Quayle was guilty of reading the school’s spelling chart they gave him and not recognizing the school had misspelled

[Perdogg]

I doubt an appeal will be successful.

[LeGrande]

Thanks

[sportutegrl]

Don’t you think it is possible that the school had already sorted out a misspelled card to give to Quayle?

[oldfart]

Yeah, they probably sent the TOTUS along with Biden to give him some help.

[gibtx2]

We will over come this along with all the other progressive crap that has happened...

[RacerX1128]

This joker may be POTUS based on the biggest Con Man Ever’s (0’s) first year.

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

"Close on the heels of Rahm E’s statement that the 1st Amendment (free speech) is over-rated, here’s another of Obamie’s Commies telling us that double jeopardy (ad infinitim until the commies get the verdict they want) is just fine, too."

My own thoughts exactly. Thank you.

This is a horrible violation of the defendants' rights. Unfortunately it has precedent in GHWB's DOJ's assault on the officers in the Rodney King fiasco. That and GHWB's hat-in-hand kowtowing to the UN for permission to honor our mutual-defense treaty with an ally (Kuwait) are his two most damaging legacies.

[Dave346]

Generally the prosecution is permitted to appeal rulings pretrial that throw out all or a critical part of their case. For instance the Barry Bonds case the judge threw out most of the prosecution’s evidence pretrial and this is now on appeal.

[AAABEST]

So the Maobama administration is going to resurrect the kangaroo court that the Bush administration started because ingrate Iraqi officials demanded their heads on a platter.

Fact: These contractors broke no laws. When it became clear that they broke no laws, the Bush Justice Dept. decided to go fishing and wound up charging them, incredibly, with the illegal overseas use of automatic weapons. The only problem with this is that the automatic weapons used were the same ones issued to them by the United States Government.

Fact: The reason why the initial uproar began was because the Islamists and their quisling fan club Western media told the incredible story that this was an "unprovoked attack" by Blackwater on "innocent bystanders." As if it's even conceivable that the security personnel just decided to exit their vehicles and commence firing on woman and children onlookers. But that was the story, and they went with it.

Fact: The contention that the convoy wasn't attacked has been exploded when further evidence (including real-time radio transmissions) came to light that showed it clearly were attacked. It was the convoy that was the victim of an "unprovoked attack," not the other way around.

Fact: A forensic investigation showed that the bullets extracted from "bystanders" could not have come from the contractors weapons. That's right, the contractor didn't shoot the bystanders. But hey, lets not let facts get in the way of a good political hanging.

Fact: The evidence (or lack thereof) that the Islamists and their media pamphleteers hold up was the lack of enemy shell casings found on the scene. What they neglect to mention is that there was no collection of evidence at the scene until several days after the fact. Gee, ya think it's possible for shell casings to disappear from the scene after several days?  

[USF]

Thank you.

[La Enchiladita]

White House officials said ... Biden's trip was not intended to be way it would be announced.

Heh.

[Moonman62]

Close on the heels of Rahm E’s statement that the 1st Amendment (free speech) is over-rated, here’s another of Obamie’s Commies telling us that double jeopardy (ad infinitim until the commies get the verdict they want) is just fine, too. Pretty soon they’ll bring back trial by dunking.

W was pretty good at going after border guards.

[Gay State Conservative]

If this ever gets to trial I hope the defense lawyers point out that,given the court’s decision to throw it out,this prosecution is purely political.That would be a pretty powerful argument anywhere but DC,Manhattan or San Francisco.

[UAConservative]

This administration has no shame, and certainly no honor!

[Karliner]

''By announcing this decision in Iraq, through an elected official, the United States makes clear it has decided to do what is politically expedient, rather than what is just based on Judge Urbina's unshakable findings that the prosecutors engaged in gross misconduct and intentionally violated Mr. Ball's constitutional rights,'' attorney Steven McCool, who represents Ball, said in a statement. ''In the end, the United States has shown it will pursue an innocent man, rather than justice.''

Okay, something else I've ALWAYS wondered. Who were the guards guarding? Granted they'd have to be high up VIP's that "weren't there" since they were EYEWITNESSES. maybe they were NOC, but no matter, even IF you're CIA or some other alphabet soup entity you might think they were kinda happy they weren't killed. Eh, loose lips and all that rot.

[C210N]

I wonder if this is a signal that if they are convicted, that -18bama won’t consider pardoning them. /sarc

[greyfoxx39]

First thing that popped into my head...double jeopardy.