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| Iraq |
| Contractors Cleared in Videotaped Attacks |
| 2006-06-11 |
| BAGHDAD, June 10 -- The U.S. military has concluded its investigation into a video that appeared to show private security contractors shooting at civilian vehicles driving on highways in Iraq and determined that no one involved will be charged with a crime, a military spokesman in Baghdad said. Agents with the Army's Criminal Investigation Division "reviewed the facts available concerning the incident to determine if there was any potential criminality that falls within CID's investigative purview," Maj. Timothy Keefe said in a written statement. "The review determined that no further investigative effort on the part of Army CID was warranted." The investigation, which officials have not released or discussed publicly, began after the video was posted on an Internet site purportedly run by employees of Aegis Defense Services, a London-based firm with a $293 million U.S. government security contract -- the largest of any security firm working in Iraq. The initial online version of the video, posted in late 2005 on the site, appeared to have been taken from a camera mounted in the rear window of a sport-utility vehicle. It contained several brief clips of cars being strafed by machine-gun fire, set to the music of the Elvis Presley song "Mystery Train." A version posted months later contained laughter and the voices of men joking with one another during the shootings. The scenes were aired widely on Arabic-language satellite television and prompted denunciations from several members of Congress. The military said it was investigating, as did Aegis. Keefe said that the "alleged shooter" in the video was determined to be South African and that the military would share the results of the investigation with British and South African authorities. Investigators said they believe that those officials "will come to the same conclusion that CID did as to the lack of probable cause to believe that a crime was committed," Keefe's statement said. "It is correct that the State Dept. conducted an investigation--as it does with all such events involving State contractors," embassy spokesman Dennis Culkin said at the time, in a written statement. "However, as is also standard, the results of such federal investigations are not made public. So we're not able to share any investigation results." |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 Maybe the boer poops in the woods, Besoeker? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-06-11 19:23 |
| #1 "alleged shooter" in the video was determined to be South African Why do they hate the Boer? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-06-11 17:04 |