Joe Biden's Baghdad Betrayal

08/11/20 • 52 min

Just two days after Judge Ricardo Urbina threw out the government’s case against Raven 23, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her legal advisors were scheming on ways to revive it.

The news of the dismissal reverberated across Iraq, with religious and political leaders demanding that the US Justice Department bring new charges against Dustin Heard, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Nick Slatten.

State Department cables from the time show that the Iraqi government was threatening to withdraw from the Status of Forces Agreement and lucrative oil contracts.

Obama sent Vice President Joseph Biden to Iraq to assure the Iraqi people publicly that they would have “justice” in the Raven 23 case.

FOR MORE:
WIKILEAKS
State Department diplomatic cables: "Fallout over Blackwater Continues"
https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/10BAGHDAD63_a.htmlASSOCIATED PRESS
Biden says "U.S. to Appeal Blackwater Dismissal"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amGSJuwszC8

Support the show

Just two days after Judge Ricardo Urbina threw out the government’s case against Raven 23, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her legal advisors were scheming on ways to revive it.

State Department cables from the time show that the Iraqi government was threatening to withdraw from the Status of Forces Agreement and lucrative oil contracts.

Obama sent Vice President Joseph Biden to Iraq to assure the Iraqi people publicly that they would have “justice” in the Raven 23 case.

Support the show

Previous Episode

Breaking the Code

Gina and Mike examine the US government’s machinations to overcome the shortcomings of the investigation.
Witness accounts begin shifting as US prosecutors pressure witnesses to bring the case to trial in response to mounting political pressure in Iraq.

Prosecutors convene a grand jury to try to make manslaughter charges stick against Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty, Paul Slough and Nick Slatten. Their star witness is Raven 23 team member Jeremy Ridgeway, who recants his statement that the convoy took incoming fire after prosecutors threaten him.

Heard, Liberty, Slatten and Slough describe increasingly aggressive tactics by FBI agents and prosecutors to try to force them into guilty pleas.

Less than a day after Judge Urbina kills the case, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton queries her legal advisor, Harold Koh: “What can we do about Judge Urbina’s ruling?”

FOR MORE:
WIKILEAKS
Hillary Clinton Email Archive -- Blackwater case
https://wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/emailid/680ABC NEWS
Jeremy Ridgeway pleads guilty in secret deal.
https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/FedCrimes/story?id=6417440&page=1

Support the show

Next Episode

The Expendables

Gina examines the role played by the national press in the prosecution of Raven 23.

Although he is mere months from taking senior status, Judge Royce Lamberth inexplicably seizes the Raven 23 case, minutes after it is randomly assigned to another judge. This move is consistent with Lamberth’s checkered legal and judicial career.
FOR MORE:
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW REVIEW
Royce Lamberth's Rein of Terror
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40712173WASHINGTON POST
At US Urging, Court Throws Lamberth off Indian Case
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/07/12/at-us-urging-court-throws-lamberth-off-indian-case/72b9f5cd-e668-4d9f-98f9-10d83e5052b7/JUDICIAL PROFILE
Royce Lamberth
https://www.fedbar.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/LamberthMay2008-pdf-3.pdf

Support the show