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Blackwater Contractor Saw Killing Iraqis as 9/11 Payback

by TheCameraObscura | September 8, 2009 at 01:01 pm

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In September of 2003, a Washington Post poll revealed that 69% of Americans actually believed that Saddam Hussein played some role in the 9/11 attack, and this was after the Bush White House denied any Iraqi involvement.

In a 2006 poll, 85% of US servicemen in Iraq said the U.S. mission is mainly "to retaliate for Saddam's role in the 9-11 attacks," 77% said they also believe the main or a major reason for the war was "to stop Saddam from protecting al Qaeda in Iraq."

In fact, not one Iraqi has ever been tied to the 9/11 attack.

However, this false "Iraq was behind 9/11" belief was shared by at least one member of the Blackwater private security force, who saw killing iraqis as payback for 9/11.

For sport, they rolled through the streets of Baghdad hurling frozen oranges and water bottles at civilians and nearby vehicles, trying to smash windshields and injure bystanders.

Convoying through the city in armored vehicles, the contractors fired their weapons indiscriminately. One member of the Blackwater security team known as Raven 23 regularly bragged about his body count and viewed killing Iraqis as "payback for 9/11."

These allegations are contained in court records [PDF] filed on Monday by Justice Department lawyers prosecuting five Blackwater contractors for the September 2007 shooting frenzy in Baghdad's Nisour Square that killed 14 Iraqis and wounded 20 others.

Anticipating that lawyers representing the contractors will argue that they were acting in self defense, the prosecution is seeking to introduce evidence that "several of the defendants had harbored a deep hostility toward Iraqi civilians which they demonstrated in words and deeds." The charges are similar to those that recently emerged in civil lawsuits against Blackwater, stemming from the Nisour Square episode.

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eastvanray

at 14:18 on September 8th, 2009

69% of Americans actually believed that Saddam Hussein played some role in the 9/11 attack?????

Why is it that a country like the US with unfettered access to information when compared to almost any other nation still has such misinformed citizens?

Grace H

at 15:18 on September 8th, 2009

I do not believe that is accurate at all. Statistics are the easiest things to manipulate and thus we must be loathe to trust in them.

Most people I know hate the fact that we are in Iraq. Afganistan they can understand bc Al-Quaida was there at some point. All in all, most people have tired of the war period.

TheCameraObscura

at 15:27 on September 8th, 2009

Really, and what was the purpose of manipulating the statistics, the burden is on you to prove it.

Oh and by the way, another poll said that most US soldiers, 85%, thought we were in Iraq because the Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11.

While 85% said the U.S. mission is mainly "to retaliate for Saddam's role in the 9-11 attacks," 77% said they also believe the main or a major reason for the war was "to stop Saddam from protecting al Qaeda in Iraq."

http://www.zogby.com/news/readnews.cfm?ID=1075

Grace H

at 12:01 on September 10th, 2009

So because they are either naive, brainwashed, or acting as humans in attempt to justify our being over there, they represent the american populace. That is like saying the Holocaust deniers in Europe and other places of the world represent all of the inhabitants of the land in which they dwell.

And honestly takng a small group such as the Army (as such i mean with similiar political, social, and economic ideals) is not a good poll.

Furthermore, who was polled in terms of demographics. Also, look at the dates on the polls. Make some inferences based on the state of affairs at the time (country leadership) and answer the question yourself. To justify an injust war based on action for the sake of action and propoganda intelligence.