Iraqi father seeks Blackwater admission of guilt for death of his son

Mohammed Hafidh Abdul-Razzaq has called for an official apology and admission of guilt from the U.S. security firm Blackwater for the death of his young son, Ali, BBC News reported Wednesday.

Nine-year-old Ali was killed while traveling with his father, aunt, and cousins in his Abdul-Razzaq’s car. It was then that Blackwater employees opened fire on the tiny vehicle and surrounding cars in Nisoor Square, a bullet striking Ali in the head.

“They just kept shooting, although no-one was moving, they were just combing the whole road, tat tat tat, like that, there was nothing in the road,” said a distraught Abdul-Razzaq, still in disbelief that his car filled with family members could be considered a threat to the heavily armed guards.

On two separate occasions Abdul-Razzaq has been offered compensation by Blackwater and U.S. government officials in Baghdad. On both occasions he has turned them down. Instead, Abdual-Razzaq wants a complete admission of guilt and an official apology for the incident. For that, he is willing to sign away any legal claims he would have against the U.S. firm. Blackwater representative have told him, however, that they cannot offer him such an agreement “for legal reasons.”

On Tuesday, Abdual-Razzaq was one of three Iraqis testifying before a closed-door session of a federal grand jury in Washington investigating the September 16, 2007 shooting in which Ali and 16 other innocent civilians were killed.

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