The US justice department intends to drop manslaughter and weapons charges against one of the Blackwater Worldwide (now Xe Corp) security guards involved in a deadly 2007 Baghdad shooting, according to court documents.
A one-paragraph notice filed on Friday says only that prosecutors have asked that the case against Nicholas Slatten be dropped. The government's detailed request to the court was filed with the judge and with the defendant, but was not made public.
The shooting in Nisoor Square left 17 Iraqis dead and inflamed anti-American sentiment abroad. It touched off a string of investigations that ultimately led the state department to cancel the company's lucrative contract to guard diplomats in Iraq.
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Blackwater involved in Bhutto and Hariri hits says former Pakistani army chief
Pakistan’s former chief of army staff, General Mirza Aslam Beg (ret.), has said the U.S. private security company Blackwater was directly involved in the assassinations of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto and former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.
Blackwater later changed its name and is now known as Xe.
General Beg, who was chief of army staff during Benazir Bhutto’s first administration, said U.S. officials always kept the presence of Blackwater in Pakistan secret because they were afraid of possible attacks on the U.S. Embassy and its consulates in Pakistan.
During an interview with a Pakistani TV network, Beg claimed that the United States killed Benazir Bhutto.