A team of security contractors was responding to incoming fire when it gunned down at least 14 Iraqi civilians in a west Baghdad intersection -- and radio logs prove it, according to the lawyer of a former Marine from Utah who was on the Blackwater Worldwide security detail known as "Raven 23."
"There is no question that Raven 23 faced lethal fire in Nisoor Square on Sept. 16, 2007," said attorney Steven McCool, who represents West Valley City, Utah, resident Donald Ball.
Ball is one of five Blackwater contractors charged last week in the killings, which prosecutors called "unprovoked and illegal attacks on civilians." McCool said the logs show otherwise.
The logs, provided to The Salt Lake Tribune by the contractors' defense team on Thursday, show that another Blackwater team -- "Raven 4," which company officials have said was protecting a State Department official -- had been in a static location in Baghdad for just over an hour on the morning a car bomb attack occurred about 25 meters away from its location. Several Blackwater convoys appear to have been dispatched to help facilitate the team's safe return.
Raven 23 first appears on the log at 12:11 p.m. -- 12 minutes after the car bombing -- as it arrived at Nisour Square to "lock down" the intersection.
Then, in minute-by-minute reports, the logs show the incident through the short messages Raven 23 was sending back to Blackwater's command center:
At 12:12, Raven 23 reported incoming gunfire coming from multiple insurgents to the northwest of the square.
At 12:13, the team reported that it was being fired on by Iraqi police.
At 12:14, Raven 23 was advised to "break contact."
At 12:15, the team reported that one of its vehicles had been disabled, but that its members had suffered no injuries.
At 12:16, Raven 23 reported that it would attempt to tow the vehicle out of the intersection.
At 12:18, the team reported that it was towing the vehicle, but was continuing to take incoming fire.
At 12:20, Raven 23 reported that it was in traffic and still under sporadic gunfire.
Attorneys said the logs clearly show that the contractors were responding to an attack when they opened fire.
"It is shameful that the government would mislead the American people," by not revealing evidence that the guards were shot at, McCool said. He called the charges "ill-considered."
The logs paint a different picture from that provided to prosecutors by one of the indicted men, Jeremy Ridgeway, who has already pleaded guilty in the case and is cooperating with the Justice Department.
According to Ridgeway's account, the incident began when a white Kia sedan approached one of the heavily armored Blackwater trucks in the intersection. Prosecutors say there is no way the driver of the Kia should have been mistaken for a threat, but one of the contractors nonetheless fired his assault rifle into the sedan, killing its driver and setting off the 10-minute rampage.
In announcing the charges last week, prosecutors said that an exhaustive investigation showed that none of the dead had been threats to the contractors and that there had been no attempt to provide reasonable warnings to those who came under attack.
"Iraqi citizens were going to lunch, stopping at the market, traveling with their families and children," said Joseph Persichini Jr., FBI assistant director-in-charge at the bureau's Washington Field Office, which led the investigation. He said the contractors "displayed a blatant disregard for the core values of the United States Constitution and failed to adhere to the rule of law and the respect for human life."
McCool said that's not a fair description of what happened in Nisoor Square.
Justice Department officials declined to comment on the radio logs.
A pretrial hearing is set for Jan. 6 in Washington D.C. The defense will fight to return subsequent hearings to Utah.
Federal prosecutors allege a Blackwater Worldwide convoy left Baghdad s fortified International Zone without permission on Sept. 16, 2007, after an explosion near a different Blackwater security detail.
The four armored trucks headed for Nisour Square to set up a blockade. But within seconds of entering the traffic circle, security guards opened fire on innocent civilians, prosecutors allege. Fourteen people were killed and 20 were injured, documents said.
One guard, Jeremy P. Ridgeway, 35, of California, pleaded guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter and one count of attempting to commit manslaughter.
An indictment unsealed Monday charged five additional guards including Donald W. Ball, 26, of West Valley City, Utah, with 35 counts each. The men charged with Ball are: Paul A. Slough, 29, of Keller, Texas; Nicholas A. Slatten, 24, of Sparta, Tenn.; Evan S. Liberty, 26, of Rochester, N.H.; and Dustin L. Heard, 27, of Maryville, Tenn.
Each man is charged with 14 counts of voluntary manslaughter, 20 counts of attempt to commit manslaughter, and one count of using a firearm in a crime of violence.
The firearm charge carries a minimum mandatory prison term of 30 years. It identifies the weapons used as an SR-25 sniper rifle, M-4 assault rifles, M-240 machine guns, and M-203 grenade launchers and grenades.
E-mail Matthew D. LaPlante at mlaplante(at)sltrib.com
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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