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This is what a war crime looks like

and

Actually, no. This is what a civilian massacre by Blackwater contractors in Iraq looks like.

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Jacinda Woodhead

Jacinda Woodhead is a former editor of Overland and current law student.

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  2. Profoundly disturbing. It smacks of so much US Big Business attitudes of profit, profit, profit – no matter what the cost.

    When people in positions of power, in positions of authority, lie and deflect responsibility so unashamedly for such heinous terrosist behaviour, what effect does it have on the society that surrounds them? The underbelly of American corporate culture is exposed painfully in this incident and it is hard to imagine what would bring the full impact of it into the consciences of the Blackwater representatives. They appear as monsters, not humans, devoid of any feeling or capacity to demonstrate even the most basic animal attributes – recognition of their own species.

    What would it be like to be related to one of these people? They must have families: parents, siblings, perhaps partners or children. If this is how they are willing to behave publicly, how must they treat those closest to them? Lying is pedestrian. Rewriting history is common place. Moving the goal posts to be expected.

    These people move amongst some of the most influential circles in the world and are allowed, if not encouraged, by those very same circles to behave as unmitigated phychopaths. They are not committed by trial. They are not brought to account. They are not institutionalised. They are not rehabilitated.

    We can only hope that Muhommeds case is heard by those not like them, by those who have humanity and are not afraid to use it.

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