Finally, at long last, democracy comes to Iraq.
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>>Six Iraqi groups team up to drive Americans out
Six Iraqi insurgent groups have joined forces to form a "political council" and "liberate" Iraq from US occupation, Al-Jazeera television said on Thursday, as violence in the country killed at least seven people. A US rights group announced Thursday it was filing a lawsuit against private security contractor Blackwater on behalf of a survivor and the families of three victims of a deadly September 16 shootout in Baghdad.
A spokesman for the "political council of the Iraqi resistance" was shown on Al-Jazeera with his face blacked out, announcing the formation of the coalition to liberate Iraq.
He said it comprises the four factions of a so-called "jihad and reform front" - the Islamic Army in Iraq, the Mujahedeen Army, Ansar al-Sunna-Religious Committee, and the Fateheen Army. The two others that have joined are the Islamic Front for Iraqi Resistance and the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas in Iraq, the spokesman said.
The spokesman announced a "political program to liberate Iraq," which declared that "resistance to occupation is a right granted by all laws ... The armed resistance, joined by forces, groups and figures that reject the occupation and its plans, is the legitimate representative of Iraq."
The Center for Constitutional Rights Thursday said the suit in a Washington federal court accuses Blackwater of murder and war crimes and seeks unspecified damages.
Filed by Talib Mutlaq Deewan and the estates of three men killed - Himoud Saed Atban, Osama Fadhil Abbass, and Oday Ismail Ibrahim - the suit claims Blackwater "created and fostered a culture of lawlessness among its employees, encouraging them to act in the company's financial interests at the expense of innocent human life," the center said in a statement.
"This senseless slaughter was only the latest incident in a lengthy pattern of egregious misconduct by Blackwater in Iraq," said lawyer Susan Burke. "At the moment of this incident, the Blackwater personnel responsible for the shooting were not protecting State Department officials. We allege that Blackwater personnel were not provoked, and that they had no legitimate reason to fire on civilians."
An Iraqi government report released Sunday said 17 people died in the shooting and 22 were wounded when Blackwater guards opened fire on civilians on September 16.
According to a congressional report, Blackwater has been implicated in nearly 200 shootouts in Iraq sice 2005, and its representatives were those who started shooting more than 80 percent of the time. It maintains its men were responding to an ambush while escorting a US State Department convoy.
The US Embassy in Baghdad has been tight-lipped on whether those involved in the killings would be handed over for prosecution.<< |
