Families seek to find out why contractors died. Contractor sues them for $10M
The best justice money can buy. Pretty amazing. The story was covered on Alternet.org:
The following article is by the lawyers representing the families of four American contractors who worked for Blackwater and were killed in Fallujah. After Blackwater refused to share information about why they were killed, the families were told they would have to sue Blackwater to find out. Now Blackwater is trying to sue them for $10 million to keep them quiet.
Let’s see . . . Blackwater is asked for information by the families of the dead contractors (they were “burned, beaten, dragged through the streets of Fallujah and their decapitated bodies hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River on March 31, 2004″). Blackwater refuses to provide the information. The families sue to obtain the information. Blackwater loses a series of appeals all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Are the griveing families about to get the information they seek? Dream on. Oh, and bring in the heavies to fight the families:
Blackwater quickly adapted its battlefield tactics to the courtroom. It initially hired Fred F. Fielding, who is currently counsel to the President of the United States. It then hired Joseph E. Schmitz as its in-house counsel, who was formerly the Inspector General at the Pentagon. More recently, Blackwater employed Kenneth Starr, famed prosecutor in the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky scandal, to oppose the families. To add additional muscle, Blackwater hired Cofer Black, who was the Director of the CIA Counter- Terrorist Center.
Blackwater has sued not only the estates of the dead contractors, but also the administrators of the estates, seeking to have them held personally responsible. What is the real purpose for this suit against the families?
After filing its suit against the dead men’s estates, Blackwater demanded that its claim and the families’ existing lawsuit be handled in a private arbitration. By suing the families in arbitration, Blackwater has attempted to move the examination of their wrongful conduct outside of the eye of the public and away from a jury. This comes at the same time when Congress is investigating Blackwater.
Here’s where the buck stops regarding those renegade contractors. This surreal video stars the President of the United States. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6Z1tevub9I