Heather sent us this video from a CNN story which includes interviews with Iraqis who witnessed and survived the Blackwater attack. This video was done before the story below broke, but the video gives a lot of background and brings perspective to the horrific nature of the attack.

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Via CNN:

The Iraqi government will file criminal charges against employees of U.S. security firm Blackwater who are blamed for a gun battle in Baghdad in which civilians were killed, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said Sunday.

It is unclear how Iraqi courts will attempt to bring the contractors to trial. A July report from the Congressional Research Service said the Iraqi government has no authority over private security firms contracted by the U.S. government.

The Iraqi government claims that as many as 20 civilians were killed by the private contractors, who were guarding a U.S. diplomatic convoy.

Iraqi officials, who claim the shootings were unprovoked, dispute the U.S. claim that the guards were responding to an attack and said on Saturday they had a videotape that showed the Blackwater guards opened fire without provocation. Read more...

The Iraqi government is trying to uphold the law of their sovereign nation, but the president of another country is standing in the way. They are calling for the U.S. to replace Blackwater with another contractor, but what are the odds of that happening? I would like to think the Iraqis would stand up to their occupiers, but history shows us they won't get very far.