JEREMY SCHAHILL: In addition to Jeremy Ridgeway's statement, Mauney and Dickinson plan to introduce statements made by other Blackwater guards in the square that day, who said they were horrified at what their colleagues did, saying that they shot at civilians for nothing and for no reason. With the Justice Department's criminal case against Blackwater very much up in the air, Mohammed Kinani could well be the one man left standing between Blackwater and total impunity for the
Nissour Square massacre. . . .
As Mohammed sat in his SUV with his 9-year-old son Ali, his sister Jenan and her three children, he realized that attempting to escape was not an option. As the shooting intensified, Mohammad yelled for the kids to get down. He and Jenan did the same.
MOHAMMED KINANI: Bullets were coming from the right and the left. My younger sister was trying to cover me with her body. So I pulled out of her grip and covered her with my body to protect her. I have pictures that show the head rest of my sister's seat is full of bullet holes. It was horrific- extremely terrifying. I still wake up from sleep startled" "Why?' I ask, "Why would they do this? We were civilians sitting in our cars. Most of the cars had families in them, so why did this happen? I kept hearing Boom, Boom, Boom in my car. Bullets were flying everywhere. It was horrific, horrific" I don't know. I don't know how to describe it.
After they killed everyone in sight, my sister and I kept still. I had her rest her head on my lap and my body was on top of her. We would sneak a peek from under the dashboard. The continued shooting here and there, killing this and that one. Then it cleared. Nothing was moving on the street. Only the Blackwater men were moving. Then, they drove off.
GARY MAUNEY: This is the last case standing in the United States right now. This is it. This is it.
Americans need to write their Congressmen, Senators, President Obama and VP Biden to hold Blackwater's (Xe's) feet to the fire. This memory will not remain only with the victims but with all Americans who stand for what is right--and not crawl away from what we did wrong in Iraq.
JEREMY SCHAHILL: Baghdad, September 16, 2007. Shortly before noon, a convoy of four armored vehicle departs the Green Zone, the heavily fortified U.S. base in Iraq. The men inside of the vehicles were elite private soldiers working for Blackwater. Their code name: Raven 23. The men had defied orders from their superiors to remain in the Green Zone and proceeded on to the streets of Baghdad. As they departed, they were again told to return to base, but they didn't. Within minutes, Blackwater Raven 23 would arrive at the congested Baghdad intersection known as
Nissour Square. 15 minutes later, at least 17 Iraqi civilians would be dead, more than 20 others wounded in a shooting that would down in infamy as Baghdad's Bloody Sunday. You probably have never heard his name, but you likely know something about how 9-year-old Ali Mohammed Hafed Kinani died. He was the youngest person killed by Blackwater forces at Nissour Square. To this day, Blackwater has never faced justice for killing Ali and the other Iraqis that day. But his father Mohammed who was with Ali in Nissour Square, is determined to change that.PLEASE CONTACT THE WHITE HOUSE here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
PLEASE CONTACT the U.S. SENATE here:
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/general/one_item_and_teasers/contacting.htm
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