Joe Biden urged the democratic Iraqi government to allow Baath Party members to run in their upcoming elections. (Aswat Aliraq)

What a surprise. Joe Biden told Iraqi officials today that he wants the five Blackwater security contractors retried after their case was thrown out of court last month. They were accused of manslaughter after a deadly ambush in Iraq in 2007.
Brietbart reported:

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.

Blackwater security contractors were guarding U.S. diplomats when the guards opened fire in a crowded Baghdad intersection. Seventeen people were killed, including women and children, in a shooting that inflamed anti-American sentiment in Iraqi.

Biden expressed his “personal regret” for the shooting and said the Obama administration was disappointed by the dismissal. “A dismissal is not an acquittal,” he said.

The U.S. rebuffed Iraqi demands that the U.S. contractors face trial in Iraqi courts. After a lengthy investigation, U.S. prosecutors charged five of the contractors with manslaughter and took a guilty plea from a sixth.

But the case fell apart in December after a judge found that the Justice Department mishandled evidence and violated the guards’ constitutional rights. Prosecutors now face difficult odds getting an appeals court to reinstate the case.

Hat Tip K. Solomon

 

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  1. #1 January 23, 2010 at 2:18 pm

    Tom Kubiak commented:

    What a perfect match — Loser in Chief and Loser lite.

  2. #2 January 23, 2010 at 2:36 pm

    bg commented:

    ++

    OT..

    connect the dots..

    [US immigration authorities first withheld Ramadan's visa allowing entry into the country in July 2004 when he was offered a tenured teaching position at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. In 2006, Ramadan was denied a new visa.

    The government alleged that from 1998 to 2002, Ramadan contributed around $1,300 to a Swiss-based charity, the Association de Secours Palestinien, which the US claimed was allied with Hamas.

    [..]

    Dr M Zuhdi Jasser, chairman of the board of the American Islamic Forum for democracy said that secretary Clinton “gave fuel to global Islamists who make specious claims attacking American foreign policy.”

    “As a Muslim, I don’t believe that a majority of Muslims agree with Ramadan,” says Jasser. “Ultimately I hope and pray if he gets more exposure in the United States that we really start to have a public discourse not between Tariq Ramadan and non-Muslims, but between Tariq Ramadan and Muslims that separate mosque and state that are looking to modernize Islam … and truly having public discussions about the harm and the threat of political Islam and it’s contribution to terror.”]

    ==

  3. #4 January 23, 2010 at 2:37 pm

    JollyR commented:

    Great move Biden. Sucking up to the Iraqi’s to make yourself out to be a big shot. Just keep your mouth shut and stay out of the press like your daddy Obama told you to do or he will lock you up again. Out of sight out of mind should be your guiding thought.

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  4. #5 January 23, 2010 at 2:42 pm

    Dougf commented:

    Please let’s not be knee-jerk not-too-bright here. For once.
    Quite apart from the merits of the case and I don’t know enough to comment on that, it is important that this not be seen as a whitewash by Iraqis.

    Bottom line —- more than one Iraqi died that day and we still don’t know exactly HOW. The USA has spent a LOT of money and blood in Iraq and to endanger all that investment because the prosecution probably screwed up and there won’t even be a trial is not good.

    Biden (doofus though he is) did the only thing he could do in the circumstances. I understand that Blackwater has already paid ‘blood money’ to the relatives of the dead and wounded(although I stand to be corrected on this) so a lot of Iraqi anger has been dissipated, but optics matter.

    Justice has to be seen to be done and at first glance you can surely understand how this might look to some not exactly well informed slob in Baghdad. Hint — It does not look like justice.

    I give Joe a pass on this one. He was and is in a tough spot. I don’t see this as either unfair or unreasonable.

  6. #7 January 23, 2010 at 2:51 pm

    Dell commented:

    No matter what Joe wants…and it really DOESN’T matter…he’s only giving Obama-style lip service to the Iraqi government. If the prosecution made technical errors and the court threw out the case, that’s….well….tough. If OJ can walk, I guess losing a case on technical errors isn’t all that bad. Is it justice? No. But, when they made the decision to prosecute here, the rules of criminal procedure kick in and the prosecutors blew it.

    Kinda’ makes you froth at the mouth in anticipation of the KSM trial, doesn’t it?

  7. #8 January 23, 2010 at 3:01 pm

    Lance commented:

    It’s the likes of Benedict Biden that should be on trial. He’s a political puke open to the highest bidder.
    We tolerate self-serving garbage like him while the self-sacrificing citizen is bamboozled.
    This nation could use some foxhole reality.

  8. #9 January 23, 2010 at 3:02 pm

    Peoples Front of Judea commented:

    violated the guards’ constitutional rights.

    Constitutional rights for Americans? Meh! zero would rather give them to our enemies!

  10. #11 January 23, 2010 at 3:14 pm

    Canthisbe commented:

    It seems to me that regardless of the facts or actual merit of the case, the American citizens (and mostly former American soldiers) who were working (in most cases) for the US deserve the same constitutional and criminal law protections that we are affording foreign national terrorists who are trying to bomb our buildings and airplanes. If our federal prosecutors violate the law and cause the court to throw the case out without a decision on the merits, then the prosecutors (and their bosses, Holder and Obama should be taken to task.

  11. #12 January 23, 2010 at 3:34 pm

    mike191 commented:

    This is coming from a man who wanted to tripartite Iraq.Another, example of delusional Joe,on display.

  12. #13 January 23, 2010 at 3:48 pm

    GiveHimALollipop commented:

    Right; keeping trying people until we get the results that we want: America in action. Great example to the world.

  13. #14 January 23, 2010 at 3:57 pm

    jonyjoe101 commented:

    Just let it go. In Iraq everyone is a terrorist, when you think otherwise you end up in a pine box.

    There have been some atrocitys commited but those where undeniable and the perpetrators brought to justice. This case on the other hand, there is too much he said/she said that no one can prove anything except that the blackwater team was shot at. Whether they overreated can not be determined except that the blackwater team wasn’t found hanging from a bridge like the previous security teams that where too friendly with the natives.

    This is very similar to the border patrol agents who shot an illegal alien drug trafficker, of course the trafficker said he was innocent and the agents got 10 years in the joint.

    The Iraqis should be happy they don’t have saddam gassing them and hanging them on a weekly basis anymore.

  14. #16 January 23, 2010 at 4:05 pm

    opaobie commented:

    I for one am growing tired of making political “sacrificial lambs” out of the very people protecting us to please the very people who are trying to EXTERMINATE us. BTW, who is providing security for Biden and the diplomats, US or the Iraqis? It sure would be a shame if they were on “potty break” and the bad guys decided Biden and his footstools would be a worthwhile target…just sayin’….

  16. #18 January 23, 2010 at 4:56 pm

    Kenny Solomon commented:

    Oh screw it…… In for a penny, in for the whole dollar………..This is what I sent to Jim as my commentary with the article:

    This is NOT ‘diplomatically sensitive’.
    This is Appeasement to Muslims.
    This is Submission to Islam.
    This is Surrender to evil.
    This is the Obama Administration at it’s core.

    A Vice President Of The United States cannot make the decision to move forward on appeal.

    On something like this – an international incident, only one person in the United States Government can make the decision…….. and that person is quickly proving himself to either be a traitor…… or a Muslim enemy combatant.

    Kenny Solomon
    DC Works For Us
    http://www.dcworksforus.com

  18. #20 January 23, 2010 at 5:16 pm

    GrayRider commented:

    Well, if I was in Iraq at that time I’d be shooting first and asking questions, if any…LATER.

  19. #21 January 23, 2010 at 5:25 pm

    Spider-Man commented:

    We are a country of laws. Iraq should aspire to also be a country of laws. When the court finds the evidence tainted or the prosecution’s methods corrupted, then the case should be thrown out. Of course there will be people unhappy with the decision, but that is how a fair and just society operates.

  20. #22 January 23, 2010 at 5:58 pm

    Don Rodrigo commented:

    What? No ‘double jeopardy’ protection?

  22. #24 January 23, 2010 at 7:26 pm

    bg commented:

    ++

    Kenny Solomon @ 4:56 pm #18

    Amen..

    and now everyone will go back to sleep as
    Obama appeases Islamists to our peril..

    [Abdul-Malik also makes no bones about discussing how the election of President Obama is a step forward in the project of Islamization and the long term goal of Islamist domination which falls right in lock-step with that of the Muslim Brotherhood as revealed in their manifesto.]

    B Hussein O has more than proven himself to be a radical in every way.. the NOI Messiah‘s friends are the enemies of his enemy, namely white America & her white God..

    much more here & here & here..

    these are well worth reading/re-reading..

    It’s not over until it’s over

    [According to John Brennan, head of the White House's homeland security office, the war on terrorism is over. From now on, the administration will never use terms like "jihadists" and "global war" because doing so, as Mr. Brennan said, "risks giving these murderers the religious legitimacy they desperately seek but in no way deserve." He insisted that the U.S. is at "war with al Qaeda" ("U.S. no longer at war with 'terrorism' ," Page 1, Friday).

    Could we be more blind? Acts of terror are rooted in the aspirations
    of Islamists to create an Islamic state and impose their version of Shariah law.]

    “The Arabs Have Stopped Applauding Obama”

    [Mr. Obama's election has not drained the swamps of anti-Americanism. That anti-Americanism is endemic to this region, an alibi and a scapegoat for nations, and their rulers, unwilling to break out of the grip of political autocracy and economic failure. It predated the presidency of George W. Bush and rages on during the Obama presidency.

    [..]

    Mr. Obama could not make up his mind: He was at one with “the people” and with the rulers who held them in subjugation. The people of Iran who took to the streets this past summer were betrayed by this hapless diplomacy—Mr. Obama was out to “engage” the terrible rulers that millions of Iranians were determined to be rid of.

    [..]

    Mr. Obama has himself to blame for the disarray of his foreign policy. American arms had won a decent outcome in Iraq, but Mr. Obama would not claim it—it was his predecessor’s war. Vigilance had kept the American homeland safe from terrorist attacks for seven long years under his predecessors, but he could never grant Bush policies the honor and credit they deserved. [..]

    The Obama diplomacy had made a settlement freeze its starting point, when this was precisely the wrong place to begin. Israel has given up settlements before at the altar of peace—recall the historical accommodation with Egypt a quarter century ago. The right course would have set the question of settlements aside as it took up the broader challenge of radicalism in the region—the menace and swagger of Iran, the arsenal of Hamas and Hezbollah, the refusal of the Arab order of power to embrace in broad daylight the cause of peace with Israel.]

    more @ link & more to follow..

    ==

  23. #25 January 23, 2010 at 7:34 pm

    Valerie commented:

    And exactly how many US State department employees were killed in Iraq on Blackwater’s watch? Wasn’t it -0-?

    That number belongs in every news report about the company.

  24. #26 January 23, 2010 at 7:43 pm

    bg commented:

    ++

    Weakening Islamism is Vital to Improve US Image in the Muslim world

    [In addition, after President Obama came to office in 2009, the number of home-grown Islamist terror plots inside the US has risen dramatically compared to the previous years. The Year of 2009 represents the highest level of domestic home-grown Islamic radicalism in the US since 2001.

    We must question why President Obama's approach with the Muslim world has not succeeded yet in at least having a more positive effect in improving the US image in several Muslim countries or in decreasing the rate of home-grown Islamic radicalism on the home front. One of the main reasons for this lack of success is that US strategic communications with the Muslim world was largely based on the assumption that the problem of Islamic Radicalism and hatred to America is primarily because of the US foreign policy with the Muslim world and thus changing this policy will change the latter. This can only work if the main problem was in the US approach; however, if the main problem was in the Muslim world, such an approach cannot succeed as it will be like trying to change the keys to open a room while the problem is in the rusty lock! In the latter situation, changing the lock - or in other words changing the Muslim world itself - is crucial to solving the problem.

    [..]

    Islamism, or the broad collection of movements to impose intolerant forms of Islamic teachings and practices, has made many in the Muslim world unable to be satisfied with any political system that does not implement Sharia law in some form or fashion. Any Un-Islamic system is seen as an enemy to Islam that must be opposed through violent or even non-violent means. Dr. Al-Zawaherri (second in command of Al-Queda) was clear is his offer for the US to convert to Islam in order to stop terrorism against it.]

    more @ link..

    Homegrown Jihad

    Springtime in Islamberg

    [Islamberg is a branch of Muslims of the Americas Inc., a tax-exempt organization formed in 1980 by Pakistani cleric Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani, who refers to himself as "the sixth Sultan Ul Faqr," Gilani, has been directly linked by court documents to Jamaat ul-Fuqra or "community of the impoverished," an organization that seeks to "purify" Islam through violence.

    Though primarily based in Lahore, Pakistan, Jamaat ul-Fuqra has operational headquarters in New York and openly recruits through various social service organizations in the U.S., including the prison system. Members live in hamaats or compounds, such as Islamberg, where they agree to abide by the laws of Jamaat ul-Fuqra, which are considered to be above local, state and federal authority. Additional hamaats have been established in Hyattsville, Maryland; Red House, Virginia; Falls Church, Virginia; Macon, Georgia; York, South Carolina; Dover, Tennessee; Buena Vista, Colorado; Talihina, Oklahoma; Tulane Country, California; Commerce, California; and Onalaska, Washington. Others are being built, including an expansive facility in Sherman, Pennsylvania.]

    all part of the “as long as it takes” Muslim Brotherhood, whom Obama embraces just as he embraces the NOI Black Panthers (al-Mansour aka: Donald Warden co-founder & Rev Wright ex Muslim Black Nationalist) & the Taliban..

    ==

  25. #27 January 23, 2010 at 7:57 pm

    bg commented:

    ++

    Kenny Solomon @ 4:56 pm #18

    re: [quickly proving himself to either be a
    traitor…… or a Muslim enemy combatant.]

    the two are not mutually exclusive, as a matter of historical fact,
    quite the opposite, Marxism feeds off of Islamism & vice verse..

    ==

  26. #28 January 23, 2010 at 8:04 pm

    bg commented:

    ++

    On the Job Training

    [It is sad that President Obama and his team are still going
    through on-the-job training a year into their administration.[..]

    You cannot just stay hunkered down at your “beachhead” in Hawaii after another virulent byproduct of global political Islam attacked on our homeland. While no one was really hurt, you don’t exactly look like you are taking the issue seriously when your photo of the day captures a romp on the beach. It was not a coincidence that this was attempted on Christmas day, yet you ignore the religious struggles in this conflict. It is time that our commander-in-chief and the leader of the free world come to terms with the reality that this is the greatest conflict of the century and a battle of ideas between western liberal secular democracies and political Islam.

    While you and your colleagues are stymied by the question of whether to even use the term “terror,” the ideology of al-Qaeda (violent political Islam) is spreading exponentially. Your systematic failure to advance American security against ideologies that threaten us may turn catastrophic. In fact the Christmas bomber said so himself, telling an investigator that “there are more just like me who will strike soon.” By all means, Mr. President, fix the holes in our security that we know are there – but terrorists who are suicidal religious zealots and very creative will sadly very likely strike again soon. This year certainly proves that.

    Our nation is clearly becoming more and more anxious and concerned
    over the rash of radicalized Muslims. Is it not time for you to acknowledge that terror is simply a symptom of a more profound deeper underlying disease? That disease is political Islam.

    Hopefully you will realize that we can only defeat an enemy we can name, describe, and understand. As Thomas Friedman and others have recently reminded us, the only answer to jihadists, Salafists, and Islamists is a narrative from within America, and most important from within Islam, that counters the global supremacism of political Islam. Until you say exactly that, we will continue to flail in this conflict.

    I hope after Nidal Hasan, after the American jihadis in Pakistan, and now after the Christmas bomber radicalized in London, that you see our need for clear leadership against political Islam and its ubiquitous permeating militant manifestations. We need a leader who recognizes that this conflict is most significantly within Muslim communities as we Muslims struggle with the conflict between theocracy and democracy, sharia and liberty, Islamism and freedom, and salafism and modernity. The longer you squander your leadership and stay silent on this, the more vulnerable we will be.]

    by M. Zuhdi Jasser

    ==

  27. #29 January 23, 2010 at 8:11 pm

    bg commented:

    ++

    A Cold-Blooded Foreign Policy

    [The joke is on the enthralled crowds in Cairo, Ankara, Berlin and Oslo. The new American president they had fallen for had no genuine calling or attachments abroad. In their enthusiasm for Mr. Obama, and their eagerness to proclaim themselves at one with the postracial meaning of his election, they had missed his aloofness from the genuine struggles in the foreign world.

    It was easy, that delirium with Mr. Obama: It made no moral demands on those eager to partake of it. It was also false, in many lands.

    [..]

    What a difference three or four years make. The despots have waited out that burst of American power and optimism. No despot fears Mr. Obama, and no blogger in Cairo or Damascus or Tehran, no demonstrator in those cruel Iranian streets, expects Mr. Obama to ride to the rescue. To be sure, it was in the past understood that we can’t bear all burdens abroad, or come to the defense of everyone braving tyranny. But there was always that American assertion that when things are in the balance we would always be on freedom’s side.

    We hadn’t ridden to the rescue of Rwanda and Burundi in the 1990s, but we had saved the Bosnians and the Kosovars. We didn’t have the power to undo the colossus of Chinese tyranny when the tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square, but the brave dissidents knew that we were on their side, that we were appalled by the cruelty of official power.

    It is different today, there is a cold-bloodedness to American foreign policy. “Ideology is so yesterday,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton proclaimed not long ago, giving voice to the new sentiment.

    History and its furies have their logic, and they have not bent to Mr. Obama’s will. He had declared a unilateral end to the “war on terror,” but the jihadists and their mentors are yet to call their war to a halt. From Yemen to Fort Hood and Detroit, the terror continues.

    But to go by the utterances of the Obama administration and its devotees, one would have thought that our enemies were Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, not the preachers and masterminds of terror. The president and his lieutenants spent more time denigrating “rendition” and the Patriot Act than they did tracking down the terror trail and the latest front it had opened at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen. Our own leaders spoke poorly of our prerogatives and ways, and they were heard the world over.

    Under Mr. Obama, we have pulled back from the foreign world. We’re smaller for accepting that false choice between burdens at home and burdens abroad, and the world beyond our shores is more hazardous and cynical for our retrenchment and our self-flagellation.]

    more @ link..

    there’s so much more, but i digress, my
    apologies for taking the thread off track..

    ==

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