Citing Justice Department missteps, a judge has dismissed all charges against the Blackwater guards accused in the killing of civilians in Baghdad’s Nisour Square in 2007, the AP is reporting.
From the AP:
U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina said Thursday the Justice Department overstepped its bounds and wrongly used evidence it was not allowed to see. He said the government’s explanations have been contradictory, unbelievable and not credible.
In the September 2007 Nisour Square incident, 17 Iraqi civilians were killed by Blackwater guards. They have said they were fired on.
Indictments charging the five former Blackwater guards with manslaughter were unsealed one year ago this month.
While Nisour Square contributed to Blackwater falling out of favor with the State Department in Iraq, it is now working Pentagon contracts in Afghanistan.
You can read Urbina’s lengthy dismissal in full here (.pdf).
