Blackwater reached a settlement in seven federal lawsuits filed by Iraqi citizens that claimed the security firm created a reckless culture that resulted in numerous deaths.
On New Years Eve, a federal judge dismissed all criminal charges against five Blackwater guards accused in the massacre of 17 innocent Iraqi civilians in Baghdad’s Nisur Square.
Bomb attacks targeted Shi’ite worshippers in Kirkuk and Christian churches in Mosul, leaving seven dead. Over the past six days, 32 Iraqis have been killed in Ashura violence.
Three bomb blasts in Iraq killed more than 30 people and injured 75 others as the Shi’ite Ashura ceremonies opened, while a Christmas Eve attack left one Christian dead in Mosul.
Iran’s apparent seizure of an oil well on Iraqi territory comes on the eve of an OPEC summit in which Iraq’s ambitious designs to boost output could upset plans for price hikes.
Former US soldier Steven Green challenged the law used to convict him in civilian court for his role in the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the murder of her family in Mahmudiya.
The Iraqi parliament has failed to resolve an impasse threatening to delay the country’s election—which could affect the US military’s plans for a partial pullout next year.
Plaintiffs in the civil suit against Blackwater over the 2007 Nisur Square massacre are divided on whether to accept a settlement. The case now heads for an evidentiary hearing.
Federal prosecutors indicated they will drop manslaughter charges against a Blackwater security guard involved in the September 2007 shooting incident in Baghdad that killed 17 Iraqis.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense says it is launching an independent inquiry into allegations that soldiers tortured and killed Iraqi prisoners at Camp Abu Naji in 2004.
As a BP-led partnership formally takes control of Iraq’s biggest oilfield, local politicians from across the spectrum invoke resentful memories of their nation’s colonial past.
Peter Galbraith, leading advocate of a “three-state solution” for Iraq, stands to profit from oil deals with the Kurdish regional government—but Baghdad still controls the pipeline.
