The bloodied windscreen of the vehicle driven by Ahmed Haithem Ahmed. Source: News Limited
ARMED to the teeth in the chaos of a war zone and bent on "payback for 9/11", this was only going to end badly.
Now one man has been sentenced to life in jail and 14 civilians are dead, killed in a hail of gunfire by four men who saw themselves as "above the law".
A US judge sentenced at a group of former employees of Blackwater Security, a private security contractor hired to assist serving US combat soldiers and diplomats in Iraq but whose staff were given military-grade weapons and a green light to shoot and kill where necessary.
Four security guards — Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard — were patrolling Baghdad with assault rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers, when they opened fire at busy Nasour Square in September 2007. Slatten, who previously boasted of "killing as many Iraqis as possible" as payback for the September 11 terrorist attack, may never be released from prison. His former Blackwater colleagues will spend the next 30 years behind bars.
And it all started with a single shot.
Nicholas Slatten shot first. Source: AP
'NO! NO! NO!'
It was a round fired through the window of a moving vehicle driven patiently through a roundabout in the middle of a conflict zone. What unfolded, prosecutors said, amounted to a "staggering" loss of life and human suffering.
Court documents and eyewitness accounts reveal Iraqi man Ahmed Haithem Ahmed was driving his mother, Mohassin, to hospital where his father worked as a pathologist. Innocent and unsuspecting, the pair were moving targets.
Slatten, 31, fired the first shot into Mr Ahmed's head. Mr Ahmed slumped and momentum pushed his foot down on the accelerator.
The car rolled forward in the direction of four Blackwater Security vehicles that had been blocking the road after a bomb had gone off nearby.
The convoy opened fire. Pictures from the scene show blood sprayed over the doors and the windscreen of the vehicle. Forty bullets pierced through the car's doors and windows.
The New York Times reported at least one of the Blackwater guards began screaming "No! No! No!" as Iraqi civilians were shot at as they attempted to flee.
Among the dead were two boys, aged 9 and 11, as well as a taxi driver, an Iraqi soldier, a businessman and a doctor.
A former member of Blackwater outside the federal court in Washington. Picture: Andrew Harnik/AP Source: AP
'THE WILD THING THAT HAPPENED HERE CAN NEVER BE CONDONED'
The four ex-employees of the US private security firm were convicted last October on an array of charges ranging from first degree murder to voluntary manslaughter stemming from the incident.
During a two month-trial in US federal court in Washington, a jury heard how the four defendants opened fire with sniper rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers in the bustling square.
During today's sentencing, US federal judge Royce Lamberth said the four men broke the law and deserved to be punished.
An Iraqi policeman inspects the blood stained car following the 2007 shootings. Source: News Limited
"The wild thing that happened here can never be condoned by the court," he said.
The four defendants protested their innocence, arguing they opened fire in self-defence after being shot at by fighters and Iraqi police.
"I cannot say in all honesty to the court that I did anything wrong," Heard said in his defence.
Slough told the court: "I feel utterly betrayed by the same government I served honourably."
Judge Lamberth said "it's clear these fine young men just panicked".
But others argued the killings were premeditated. Court documents allege Slatten told acquaintances he wanted to "kill as many Iraqis as possible." Prosecutors said the men showed no remorse.
"These four men have refused to accept virtually any responsibility for their crimes and the blood they shed that day," Assistant US Attorney Patrick Martin said.
"In combination, the sheer amount of unnecessary human loss and suffering attributable to the defendants' criminal conduct on September 16, 2007, is staggering," the US Attorney's Office said in a statement in the wake of the sentencing.
"The results of this case demonstrate that the FBI will investigate violations of US law no matter where they occur in order to bring justice to innocent victims."
The Times reported that the US State Department warned weeks prior to the 2007 shootings that contractors for Blackwater saw themselves as above the law and in command.
Blackwater contractors pictured during the war in Iraq. Picture: Gervasio Sanchez Source: AP
IN DEFENCE OF BLACKWATER
Blackwater has since distanced itself from the incident. It settled with the families of the victims for an undisclosed sum of money and changed its name a number of times before settling on Academi. It is based in Virginia.
But the man in charge at the height of the Iraq War published a book in 2013 defending his men. In Civilian Warriors, Prince writes that his men never lost a protected.
Prince, in the months following the 2007 murders, insisted his men had acted appropriately. But, during a revealing interview with Checkpoint last year, he admitted he had "never met the guys".
It is a business, after all.
Prince reportedly sold Blackwater in 2010 for $200 million.
