Washington (CNN)One former employee of the private Blackwater Worldwide security company was sentenced Monday to life in prison and three others to 30 years each behind bars for their roles in a 2007 mass shooting in Baghdad that left 17 people dead.
A federal jury convicted the four in October after a lengthy trial that saw some 30 witnesses travel from Iraq to testify against the security contractors. Prosecutors accused the men of illegally unleashed “powerful sniper fire, machine guns and grenade launchers on innocent men, women and children.”
Senior U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth sentenced Blackwater sniper Nicholas Slatten to a term of life in prison, mandatory for his first-degree murder conviction. Blackwater workers Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard were sentenced to 30 year each, plus one day.
Remember the reasonable debate we had about the proper role of civilian contractors in a war zone?
A.
I wonder if these convictions will set off an alarm at the Justice Department or in the Pentagon, and spur a little review of our glorious mercenary program? Not to mention a little poking around at Blackwater, Xe, Academi, or whatever the hell Erik Prince is calling his little shop of mercenary horrors these days.