Some of the Blackwater mercenaries convicted for some of the crimes committed in Iraq

Just a stupid band-aid stick-on to appease the hard-hit unlucky Iraqis from decades of USA-lead war on them. The overall injustice done to the country of Iraq can never be undone.

Matt Apuzzo writing at NYTimes:
Former Blackwater Guards Convicted in Iraq Shooting

Four former Blackwater Worldwide security contractors were convicted Wednesday on charges stemming from a deadly 2007 shooting in Iraq.

Federal court jurors found one defendant guilty of murder and three others of manslaughter and weapons charges, roundly asserting that the shooting was criminal. The defendants showed little emotion as the lengthy verdict was read.

Seventeen Iraqis died when gunfire erupted on Sept. 16, 2007 in the crowded Nisour Square in Baghdad. The shooting inflamed anti-American sentiment abroad and helped solidify the notion that Blackwater, America’s largest security contractor in Iraq, was reckless and unaccountable.

The former contractors said that they were ambushed by insurgents and that civilian deaths were the unfortunate, unintended consequences of urban warfare.

The defendants were Blackwater guards. One of them, Nicholas A. Slatten, who the government said fired the first shots, was convicted of murder. The others — Dustin L. Heard, Evan S. Liberty and Paul A. Slough — were convicted on manslaughter and firearms charges.........

.....Manslaughter carries a sentence of up to 15 years per count, or up to eight years for involuntary manslaughter. The firearms charge carries a mandatory 30-year prison term. Murder carries up to life in prison.....