Four Blackwater Security Officers Sentenced to Prison in Iraq

A federal judge in the United States has sentenced a Blackwater security officer to life in prison for his role in the 2007 massacre in Baghdad, Iraq's capital. Three other officers from the company have also been sentenced to 30 years in prison. According to Reuters, the ruling against the defendants was issued on Monday, April 13, by Judge Royce Lamberth. Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, and Dustin Heard, who worked as security personnel for the private security company Blackwater in Iraq, were accused of opening fire with automatic weapons and grenade launchers on unarmed Iraqi citizens in Nisour Square, Baghdad, on September 16, 2007. As a result of this incident, 14 Iraqis, including several women and children, were killed and 17 others were injured. The Blackwater officers were attempting to clear the way for a convoy of American diplomats at the time. The Blackwater security company has been sold and renamed several times in recent years and is now operating under the name 'Academi.' Reuters added that with the issuance of these heavy sentences, another chapter of U.S. military intervention in Iraq has come to a close; an intervention that led to the overthrow of the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein.