On Thursday, January 24, Superior Court Judge Russell Duke sentenced all seven defendants to time served for the Oct. 20 action at Blackwater’s headquarters in Noth Carolina —a re-enactment of the Sept. 16 massacre at Nisour Square. Among the five is Ithaca Peter DeMott who reported that Judge Duke said that the he did not agree with their action, he respected the defendants. Needless to say, this is a great relief to family and friends, but the real victory, from a civil liberties point of view, was the failure, upon appeal, of an effort to try the defendants behind closed doors. The Daily Advance, which serves the mostly rural counties of N.E. corner North Carolina, has published an article with more details. Please comment here and on the the paper’s forum.
All seven sentenced to time served for Blackwater action
January 26th, 2008 · 2 Comments
Tags: Blackwater · Reports · Uncategorized
2 responses so far ↓
1 Cris // Jan 26, 2008 at 11:03 am
The seven are heros. A “unitary executive” with a private mercenary force –this is a scary. Less we forget, Blackwater entered New Orleans after Katrina on their own without being asked by federal or state government, or any government agency, at least publically. Might Cheney have called Eric Prince? Either way, I find Blackwater acting independently or not quite alarming. Far from protecting democracy, Blackwater is a threat to our democracy, right here where we live, as well as injurious to our relations around the world.
No one questions the presidential candidates about what they would do to correct the Bush administration’s ‘unitary executive’ power grab or creation of a dependence on a private mercenary force during debates. With the democratic process controlled by money and the media, direct action to expose criminality is very much in order.
Congraduations to the seven for exposing Blackwater’s crimes.
2 Jack Gilroy // Jan 26, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Dear Friends: Maybe our communication here in New Orleans Lower 9th ward is suffering from neglect–but I seem to have missed the owner of the quote noted in the Blackwater sentencing article. “The law cannot be ignored because you just don’t like it.”
Was that something you pulled from Herman Goering or Pol Pot or was it just GW Bush speaking.?
Jack Gilroy
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