June 12, 2006

Sovereignty in Iraq. It is worth remembering those three words when you weigh the number of atrocities committed by US troops and private security (former US, UK, South African and other military personnel) firms against the number of those charged, punished or even incarcerated.

I told you about how the US military blatantly lied about Ishaqi. And for the past two years they lied about Falluja and the use of White Phosphorous in addition to shooting at civilians carrying white flags, blowing up hospitals, and wome and children.

(The excuse was that every male above the age of 15 was legitimate target, every person carrying a white flag was a terrorist, every hospital was a terrorist stronghold, every ... well you get the picture. Just keep it in mind the next time a US soldier surrenders or is captured, git?)

The world public have seen video evidence, pictures, heard testimony and despite all of this the Western military man is NEVER WRONG. The fault is on the Iraqis for being ... Iraqis.

So, is anyone really surprised that military contractors videotaping strafing civilian cars are found illegible for criminal charges.

Yes, that means investigators found no criminal act had been committed.

The U.S. military has concluded its investigation into a video that appeared to show private security contractors shooting at civilian vehicles driving on highways in Iraq and determined that no one involved will be charged with a crime, a military spokesman in Baghdad said.

Agents with the Army's Criminal Investigation Division "reviewed the facts available concerning the incident to determine if there was any potential criminality that falls within CID's investigative purview," Maj. Timothy Keefe said in a written statement. "The review determined that no further investigative effort on the part of Army CID was warranted."

The investigation, which officials have not released or discussed publicly, began after the video was posted on an Internet site purportedly run by employees of Aegis Defense Services, a London-based firm with a $293 million U.S. government security contract -- the largest of any security firm working in Iraq.

An Aegis spokeswoman, Sarah Pearson, declined to comment on the findings, saying the company had not yet seen the report. She also would not comment on the company's internal investigation into the matter.

The initial online version of the video, posted in late 2005 on the site, ( http://www.aegisiraq.co.uk ) appeared to have been taken from a camera mounted in the rear window of a sport-utility vehicle. It contained several brief clips of cars being strafed by machine-gun fire, set to the music of the Elvis Presley song "Mystery Train." A version posted months later contained laughter and the voices of men joking with one another during the shootings...

No security contractor has been prosecuted for such incidents, in part because of an agreement forged soon after the U.S. invasion in 2003 that made it impossible for the Iraqi government to prosecute contract workers. While several contractors have been relieved of their duties for shooting without cause, actions taken against contractors are generally carried out quietly and rarely, if ever, disclosed.