U.S. Jury Convicts Four Former Blackwater Guards in 2007 Killings

A U.S. federal jury convicted four former Blackwater Worldwide security guards in the 2007 shooting in Baghdad’s Nisour Square that killed 14 unarmed Iraqis and injured 17 others. Nicholas A. Slatten, who was said to fire the first shots, was convicted of murder, and could face life in prison. The three others, Dustin L. Heard, Evan S. Liberty, and Paul A. Slough were convicted of voluntary manslaughter and weapons charges, and face 30 years in prison. The case was delayed and marred by a series of legal mistakes, many by U.S. government officials, and the government’s refusal to allow the guards to be tried in Iraq soured U.S.-Iraqi relations. Ronald C. Machen Jr., the United States attorney in Washington, said the verdict "is a resounding affirmation of the commitment of the American people to the rule of law, even in times of war." Blackwater has been sold and renamed multiple times, and is now called Academi. The company has merged with security contractor Triple Canopy, which currently has a State Department contract in Iraq.   

Syria-Iraq

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported U.S.-led airstrikes have killed 521 Islamist militants, including 464 Islamic State fighters, and 32 civilians over the past month in Syria. Many of the Islamic State militants have been killed in or close to the Syrian town of Kobani (Ayn al-Arab), near the Turkish border, where the United States said its forces have conducted over 135 airstrikes. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced an agreement had been reached for 200 Kurdish forces to travel from Iraq through Turkey to join the fight against Islamic State militants in Kobani. Meanwhile, the Syrian government has significantly escalated air and ground assaults against Syrian opposition fighters. The Observatory reported Syrian aircraft have launched over 210 airstrikes since Monday, targeting rebel positions in Aleppo, the eastern suburbs of Damascus, and southern regions near the Jordanian border.

Headlines

• A Palestinian man drove a car into a busy light-rail station Wednesday in Jerusalem killing a baby and wounding three people.
• An estimated 2,000 Iranians gathered Wednesday in the city of Isfahan to protest recent acid attacks on women by men on motorcycles.
• Clashes in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi and a suicide bombing at a checkpoint outside the city killed at least 11 people Wednesday.
• Attackers in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula fired on an Israeli patrol across the border injuring two soldiers.

Arguments and Analysis

‘Tunisia’s economic status quo‘ (Antonio Nucifora and Erik Churchill, The Washington Post)

"Recent research published by the World Bank, much of which would have been impossible to conduct prior to 2011, highlights that Tunisia’s economic problems are not the result of the insecurity and lower investor confidence after the revolution. Rather, they are the direct outcome of poorly designed economic policies, which were in place under ousted president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and still remain. The resulting lack of jobs and unequal access to economic opportunity were at the heart of the 2011 revolution. The World Bank report argues that the continuation of the economic status quo poses a threat to Tunisia’s transition."

‘Our Friends in Riyadh‘ (Toby C. Jones, Jacobin)

"Confronted by a number of internal and external threats – the Iranian pursuit of influence in the Gulf; the rise of Shiite power in post-invasion Iraq; the uprising in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia’s satellite state; and most importantly, the rise of a range of domestic challenges to Saudi authority since 2003, including criticism of deep state corruption and the absence of political rights – leaders in Riyadh have responded by fomenting discriminatory anti-Shiism. Rather than broadening participation or overturning inequalities, the regime’s impulse has been to pursue the politics of sectarian escalation.

Seen this way, the verdict against al-Nimr is not so much about national security or a reflection of deeply conservative, anti-Shiite sentiment as it is an indication of the regime’s vulnerability."

— Mary Casey