Blackwater settles lawsuits; two more charged

DURHAM, N.C. - The security firm formerly known as Blackwater has reached a settlement in seven civil suits filed against the North Carolina-based security contractor by families of Iraqis killed during what the lawsuits called "senseless slaughter" by Blackwater guards.

In an unrelated shooting involving Blackwater guards in Afghanistan in May, two former Blackwater employees were charged yesterday with killing two Afghan civilians after a traffic incident in Kabul.

The legal developments came a week after a federal judge dismissed manslaughter charges against five Blackwater guards in the killing of at least 14 civilians in Baghdad's Nisoor Square in September 2007. The judge said prosecutors violated defendants' rights by using protected statements the guards gave to State Department officials.

Those killings enraged Iraqis and strained relations between Iraq and the United States. Iraq banned Blackwater, which changed its name to Xe.

Two of the civil suits sought damages against Blackwater and its founder, Erik Prince, in the Nisoor Square shootings. Settlement terms were not released.

Other suits in the settlement involved Blackwater shootings in Baghdad and Hillah, Iraq, in 2006 and 2007.

In Baghdad yesterday, a shooting victim who has not settled said he still wanted the Blackwater guards prosecuted in criminal court.

"Iraqi blood is not that cheap," said Mehdi Abu Zaman, 45, who said he lost his sight in the shootings. "The civil suit is not enough. There is no justification for this. If they gave me all the money in the world, my vision will not come back."

Another victim, Sami Hawas Hamoud Abu al-Iz, told The Associated Press that Blackwater offered $100,000 to each family of a person who died, and $30,000 to those wounded. He said plaintiffs' lawyers told victims they might not receive anything if they did not settle.