Blackwater guards to face manslaughter charges

CNN reports that five former Blackwater employees have turned themselves in to authorities and are to be charged in the firefight that led to the deaths of 17 Iraqi citizens in September, 2007:

Five former security guards from Blackwater Worldwide turned themselves in to federal authorities Monday in Salt Lake City, Utah, over charges stemming from the 2007 shootings in Baghdad that killed 17 Iraqis.

The Justice Department on Monday plans to charge the former guards with manslaughter and a weapons charge of using a machine gun while committing a crime of violence, a source with knowledge of the investigation said.

A sixth Blackwater guard tied to the incident has reached a plea deal with the government, a source said.

That last part may be important if the sixth guard is going to testify against the others. The men were indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington DC last week. Sources told CNN that the guards plan to make two primary arguments in their defense: First, that the venue is inappropriate because none of the men lived in Washington; second, that American law did not apply to them in Iraq anyway. I notice that their actual guilt or innocence is not listed among their defenses.

The article also notes that Blackwater has been informed that the company will not be charged with wrongdoing, though they do face possible prosecution for illegally exporting weapons without a permit.