The impact of Blackwater's 2007 shooting in Nisour Square

The mass shooting in Nisour Square in Baghdad was a turning point for the U.S.-based security company Blackwater Worldwide and for the U.S. intervention in post-war Iraq as a whole. Iraq subsequently denied Blackwater a license to operate in the country, and diplomacy was strained again when the US dropped charges against the responsible men.

This article was originally posted to Helium Network on Nov. 23, 2010.

Blackwater trained private security contractors, thousands of whom worked for hire in post-war Iraq as bodyguards and in other paramilitary roles. While these guards generally had prior military experience, they were civilians, were not subject to military rules, and were immune from criminal prosecution while working in Iraq.

Bloomberg News reported that Blackwater contractors "were linked to 195 shooting incidents from 2005 through 2008, with them firing the first shots more than 80 percent of the time, according to a 2008 report prepared by the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee." Pres. George W. Bush's lengthy memoir of his eight-year presidency published in 2010 made no mention of the security company.

The most notorious incident occurred on Sept. 16, 2007, when Blackwater guards opened fire at a busy intersection in Baghdad outside the fortified Green Zone, killing 17 civilians, including women and children, and wounding many others. The guards claimed that they were in the square to respond to a bomb threat and that they fired in self-defense. However, an Iraqi investigation found that the shooting was unprovoked and referred to the killings as "murder." Iraqis were outraged by the incident, and diplomatic relations with the United States were strained.

The US had invaded Iraq in 2003 to overthrow Saddam Hussein and had transferred sovereignty back to a newly formed government in 2004. Despite their formal sovereignty, Iraq was unable to prosecute the Blackwater employees, who had immunity under U.S. law.

In October 2007, a month after the shooting in Nisour Square, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the MEJA Expansion and Enforcement Act (H.R. 2740) which would have made U.S. security contractors in Iraq subject to U.S. criminal law; however, the Senate never voted on it. Instead, the "Status of Forces Agreement" between the two countries in December 2008 made the contractors subject to Iraqi criminal law.

An FBI investigation found that 14 of the 17 killings were unjustified. Former Blackwater guards Donald Ball, Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty, Nick Slatten, and Paul Slough surrendered to the FBI in December 2008, each facing 14 counts of manslaughter, 20 counts of attempted manslaughter, and one count of using a firearm in the commission of a violent crime. These men, all military veterans in their 20s, pled not guilty. A sixth guard, Jeremy Ridgeway, had already pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter, attempt to commit murder and aiding and abetting, and had agreed to testify against the other five. It was the Dept. of Justice's first prosecution of personnel hired by the Dept. of Defense, which is permitted under a 2004 amendment to the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act.

The company Blackwater itself faced no charges. However, in January 2009, Iraq denied Blackwater Worldwide a license to operate in the country, citing the shooting in Nisour Square. As the incident had damaged Blackwater's reputation, the company re-branded itself Xe (pronounced "zee") the next month. That summer, Blackwater ceased providing services in Baghdad and surrounding areas.

A federal judge dismissed the manslaughter charges against the five guards in December 2009. In a 90-page ruling, he said that federal prosecutors had violated the men's Fifth Amendment rights by coercing them to make statements under the threat of the loss of their jobs. Iraq was scandalized by the dismissal of the charges. On Jan. 1, 2010, Iraq announced it would sue the five guards. Additionally, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told CNN on Jan. 3 that the government wanted to expel from the country anyone who had ever worked for Blackwater and did not intend to inform or consult the U.S. Embassy on this decision. Vice President Joe Biden, in his role as overseer of Iraq policy, quickly promised Iraqi leaders that the US would appeal the court's decision in the Nisour Square case.

In June 2010, Blackwater's billionaire founder Erik Prince was said to be seeking a buyer for the company. The company was purchased later that year and was rebranded "Academi". In June 2014, it merged with Triple Canopy; the resulting company is called "Constellis Holdings".

On December 22, 2020, President Trump pardoned Slatten, Slough, Liberty, and Heard.

On March 22, 2025, The Intercept sent an email:

In 2020, The Intercept was sued by billionaire mercenary Erik Prince, the founder of the private security firm Blackwater, after we published an investigative report on his business activities.

The case was eventually thrown out, but only after a yearslong legal fight that cost us more than $200,000 and countless hours of staff time.

See also, in 2026 (the whole thread on Bluesky)

Not able to independently confirm the authenticity of the Ellsworth American article about Platner that's floating around, so not linking to it yet. But just as a note-to-self, here's how Platner recently explained his association with Blackwater. www.reddit.com/r/Hasan_Pike...

— Greg Pak (@gregpak.net) March 26, 2026 at 11:58 PM

Sources
"Iraq denies Blackwater an operating license." CNN. Jan. 29, 2009.
"US contractor departs Baghdad." Kim Gamel. AP. May 8, 2009.
"Charges dismissed against Iraq contractors." CNN. Dec. 31, 2009.
"Iraq to sue ex-Blackwater guards." CNN. Jan. 1, 2010.
"Iraq spokesman: Ex-Blackwater employees not wanted in Iraq." CNN. Jan. 3, 2010.
"U.S. to appeal Blackwater case dismissal, Biden says." Anthony Shadid. New York Times. Jan. 23, 2010.
"Blackwater founder Erik Prince plans sale of security company." Gopal Ratnam and Timothy R. Homan. Bloomberg. June 7, 2010.

A look at the Blackwater controversy in Iraq (2007)

This article was originally posted to Helium Network on Dec. 2, 2007.

The word "mercenary," meaning a solider for hire, usually has negative associations because such a soldier is often presumed to kill primarily for money rather than allegiance to a government, and because he is often not subject to codes of military law and ethics. As such, Blackwater Worldwide (formerly Blackwater USA), which supplements the U.S. military in Iraq, does not refer to its soldiers as mercenaries. Jeremy Scahill noted in "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army" (2007) that journalists fall prey to a "very sophisticated rebranding campaign" when they "refer to these shadowy forces as 'civilian contractors' or 'foreign reconstruction workers' as though they were engineers, construction workers, humanitarians, or water specialists." (p. xxvi)

Part of the reason Iraq is such a dangerous place today, spurring the work of companies like Blackwater, is the hasty and fumbled decision-making that occurred during and shortly after the invasion. When L. Paul Bremer III arrived in Iraq in May 2003 to serve as the post-invasion administrative authority, he said, "Occupation is an ugly word. But it is a fact." (Scahill, p. 64) Bremer's initial actions have become subjects of controversy. His "Order 1" consisted in firing state workers, including teachers and doctors, who had been affiliated with Saddam's Baath party. Doing business under Saddam's regime necessitated affiliation with the Baath party, so virtually all experienced workers were fired, whether they truly sympathized with Saddam or not. Bremer's "Order 2" was to fire the 400,000 men in Saddam's army, which instantly generated hostility towards the U.S. occupation for a large number of newly unemployed Iraqi men who were trained in firearms. One analyst has said that paying these men for one year, so that they could have continued to feed their families, would only have cost the equivalent of what the U.S. pays to occupy the country for three days.

Guarding the life of this administrator was Blackwater's unenviable job. Just before leaving the country in 2004, Bremer issued "Order 17" which gave the mercenaries, on whom his life depended, immunity from prosecution. (Scahill p. xx) A New York Times story on Oct. 11, 2007 quoted Bremer as claiming that "the immunity is not absolute" and that mercenaries must "respect all Iraqi laws."

The U.S. military in Iraq is bound by American military law [the Uniform Code of Military Justice], but mercenaries for the US in Iraq are not necessarily bound by any law-especially when they are hired by the U.S. State Dept., which is a civilian agency. No mercenary has been prosecuted for any crime during the current occupation, although about 100,000 contractors currently work for the US in Iraq. Scott Horton, a Columbia University lecturer, complained about this absurdity in the New York Times (Oct. 11, 2007): "Imagine a town of 100,000 people, and there hasn't been a prosecution in three years." Horton said he thinks the best chance for a legal tool to hold mercenaries accountable is the Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act.

Blackwater soldiers are placed at great risk. One of the most gruesome images of U.S. fatalities during the occupation in Iraq was etched in memory on March 31, 2004, when four Blackwater soldiers drove through Fallujah. Machine-gun fire tore through their jeeps, and a mob of three hundred people dragged the dead soldiers out of the burning cars and tore off their limbs. Their charred torsos were hung from a bridge over the Euphrates river. Blackwater still argues that the estates and lawyers of the dead mercenaries cannot speak to the press about the company, because the mercenaries themselves had signed a contract that they would not do so (New York Times, Oct. 31, 2007).

Iraq remains a dangerous place for diplomats, too, even with an extensive U.S. military and mercenary presence. As of July 2007, the American Foreign Service Association memorial plaques in Washington had inscribed five names of U.S. State Dept. employees who died during foreign service in Iraq. These include: James Mollen, Edward Seitz, Barbara Heald, Keith Taylor, and Stephen Sullivan. Diplomats from other nations and the UN have also been killed.

The most devastating incident for Blackwater public relations involved the slaughter of Iraqi civilians. On Sept. 16, 2007, Blackwater soldiers opened fire in Nusoor Square in Baghdad, killing 17 civilians, including women and children. The next day, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki requested that Blackwater leave the country. Subsequent investigations by Iraq and by the U.S. FBI concluded that the killings were unjustified. Despite al-Maliki's insistence that Blackwater leave, 845 Blackwater guards were still assigned to protect U.S. diplomats in Iraq at the end of October 2007 (New York Times, Oct. 31, 2007).

Not aggressive, fascist. Literally a proposal for fascism - they want to stand up a paramilitary force and establish a giant set of camps. Being proposed by Trump allies to happen before the 2026 elections. Literally happening right in front of us.

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— Brendan Nyhan (@brendannyhan.bsky.social) February 25, 2025 at 8:27 AM

The return of Erik Prince: How a notorious military contractor maneuvered his way back inside Trump’s orbit, Zachary Cohen, Phil Mattingly and Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, March 13, 2025

Military contractors pitch unprecedented prison plan for detained immigrants. Erik Prince wants to cut a deal to transport detainees from the US to El Salvador. Dasha Burns and Myah Ward, Politico, April 11, 2025

Erik Prince wants to sell violence in Ukraine. (The Guardian, Sept 7, 2025)