WASHINGTON — One former
Blackwater security contractor received a life sentence on Monday and three others received 30-year sentences for
killing unarmed Iraqi civilians in Baghdad’s Nisour Square in 2007.
The shooting left 17 people dead and was a gruesome nadir in the war in Iraq. It transformed Blackwater Worldwide from America’s wealthiest and most politically powerful security contractor into a symbol of unchecked and privatized military power.
Nicholas A. Slatten, a former Army sniper from Tennessee, was convicted of murder for firing the first fatal shots. Three others — Dustin L. Heard, also of Tennessee; Evan S. Liberty of New Hampshire; and Paul A. Slough of Texas — were convicted of manslaughter, attempted manslaughter and the use of a machine gun in a violent crime. The last charge carried a mandatory 30-year prison sentence under a law passed during the crack cocaine epidemic.
Mr. Slatten was sentenced to life in prison, and Mr. Heard, Mr. Liberty and Mr. Slough to 30 years. The men are all in their 30s.
The sentences were a long-fought diplomatic victory for the United States, which asked a skeptical Iraqi government and its people to be patient and trust the American criminal justice system. That faith was tested many times over the last eight years as the case suffered several setbacks, many of which were of the government’s own making.
In the end, the Justice Department said, the case showed the world that the United States judicial system worked, even in war zones, and even when the gunmen were Americans and the victims were Iraqis.
The former Blackwater contractors said insurgents had ambushed them, and they described the civilians as the unfortunate unintended casualties of war. Prosecutors, however, described the killings as a massacre of innocent people. In October,
jurors agreed.
“What happened on Sept. 16, 2007, was nothing short of an atrocity. There’s just no other way to describe it,” T. Patrick Martin, a federal prosecutor, said before sentencing on Monday. He said that “the United States has shown that regardless of the nationality of the victims, it values justice for all.”
Lawyers for the former contractors argued unsuccessfully that the judge should take the unusual step of ignoring mandatory minimum sentences. The defendants remain adamant that the shootings were justified.
“We all heard the evidence. There were innocent people that got killed,” said David Schertler, a lawyer for Mr. Heard. “The nub of the case, though, is that these men were not out to hurt people.”
Mohammed Hafedh Abdulrazzaq Kinani, whose 9-year-old son, Ali, was killed, said that in Iraq, Blackwater had been regarded as so powerful that its employees could kill anyone and get away with it.
“Blackwater had power like Saddam Hussein. The power comes from the United States,” he said. He added later: “Today we see who will win. The law? Or Blackwater?”
A fifth former guard, Jeremy P. Ridgeway of California, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and testified against his former colleagues. He has not been sentenced.
At the trial, Iraqi witnesses testified that the Blackwater contractors had fired unprovoked on unarmed civilians who had been going about their day in the crowded intersection. Former Blackwater employees who were in the convoy of armored trucks that day also testified against their colleagues.
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