The American judge Ricardo Urbina justified his exoneration of the Blackwater mercenaries who killed Iraqi civilians by saying that the prosecutors violated the defendants' rights “by using sworn testimonies which they gave during a probe by the State Department.” He affirmed that the mercenaries “were coerced” into giving self-criminating evidence during the investigation by the Justice Department, but that “the Constitution prevents prosecutors from using statements that were obtained through the threat of job loss”. The judge dismissed thus the case and cleared the mercenaries of all charges, not because they did not commit the crime, but because the prosecutors violated the Constitution. In other words, he equated the legal error and the crime itself, and thus punished those who were erroneous by exonerating the criminals. This punishment hence failed to give justice to the victims, and put the judge on the defensive. Meanwhile, the families of the victims, except for one individual whose wife and daughter were killed, were forced to accept financial compensation and drop charges because the company, according to its lawyers, is on the verge of bankruptcy. But when they tried to backtrack because they only agreed under threats and pressure, their request was rejected. This is because there is no American or Iraqi judge, or law, that preserves their rights in backtracking on an agreement. That is the legal situation. As for Blackwater, it engaged in fierce lobbying to continue operating after the Nisoor Square massacre, which its personnel carried out. The company's bids were subsequently successful, and it continued to operate in both Iraq and Afghanistan, albeit the firm changed its name to Xe. While the company changed its name, its mission and tasks have remained the same: namely, doing the dirty work to help the US army stay above the fray. This task is facilitated by the fact that Xe's members are not under the command of the army's field commanders, and do not receive their orders from the Department of Defense. Nor are they subject to military criteria during wartime; they are mercenaries and they answer only to the company that uses them. However, the army is forced to defend them because the company is a contractor for the Department of Defense, and in order to benefit from their services in protecting military convoys and engaging in certain combat operations. In 2004, two Americans were killed in Fallouja and their corpses were disfigured. At the time, it was said that they were civilian businessmen. The US Army subsequently waged a bitter campaign against the city, destroying more than half of it, after killing hundreds of its residents. But it was later revealed that the two deceased individuals were employees in one of these mercenary companies that took part in the campaign and committed many crimes, and for which they were never held accountable. But perhaps this was an ultimately good thing for the families of the victims, since the judiciary would have found a thousand legal justifications for declaring the innocence of those who are guilty.
