In Memoriam: Nisour Square Massacre September 16, 2007

Blackwater Burka

Sculpture seems to illustrate how fear of instant death keeps Iraqis in submission

Picture allowed via CC License (attribution). Thanks to "jmccuistion" at flickr.com (endorsement of this blog by photographer/artist not implied). Click on picture to go to original site, full size image. Rollover to see original location/further attribution.

On September 16, 2007 a small white car containing a medical student and his mother appeared, in the guards' minds, to be threatening to Blackwater guards in Nisour Square, after a distant car bomb had prompted an attempt to evacuate a client.  By the end of a horrendous one sided gun battle by Blackwater guards towards people in the square who, as later learned, posed no threat, 17 Iraqis, including children, were dead or dying, and more were injured.  If some of the guards hadn't trained their guns on others who had refused to stop shooting and ordered them to stand down, it could have been much worse. 

Afterwards, the first at report of decent length on the incident to the American people was soon exposed to have been written by Blackwater itself, the US House held a hearing on the incident but then didn't mention it during the entire length of the session after being bullied by Bush administration over their temerity, and reporting exposed the failures and the stubborn determination of mainstream journalists to get halfway decent  reporting out even in the face of government subterfuge and coercion (and maybe because of it).  

For more information see last year's report in the New York Times "Blackwater Shooting Scene Was Chaotic" one of the first good attempts to explain what happened.  Piece also has a picture of then nearly deserted Nisour Square.

tags: nisour square  blackwater  massacre  iraq  war  

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