The Nation presents images of the aftermath of the Nisour Square massacre, and the father who is trying to hold Blackwater accountable for his son’s death.
Nine year old Ali Mohammed Hafedh Kinani was the youngest person killed by Blackwater forces in the infamous Nisour Square massacre in Baghdad on September 16, 2007. His father, Mohammed, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the six Blackwater shooters he alleges are responsible. He is also suing Blackwater and its owner, Erik Prince. Photo courtesy: Mohammed Kinani
Ali, as a small boy, with his three older siblings. Ali’s older brothers called him “daddy’s brat” and in the family, the Kinanis affectionately called Ali by his kid nickname “Allawi.” As Mohammed says, “He was the closest of my sons to me. He was my youngest, and was always indulged.” Photo courtesy: Mohammed Kinani
A Kinani family portrait taken in Baghdad shortly before the Nisour Square massacre.Photo courtesy: Mohammed Kinani
Mohammed Kinani speaking to The Nation in January 2009. “I’m not only remembering the [Nisour Square massacre], but rather I’m reliving it as if it’s happening now,” he says.Photo: Rick Rowley, BigNoiseFilms.org
Mohammed Kinani holds a photo of his son while speaking to The Nation‘s Jeremy Scahill. “I wish the US Congress would ask [Erik Prince] why they killed my innocent son. Do you think that this child was a threat to your company?” Mohammed asked. “This giant company that has the biggest weapons, the heaviest weapons, the planes, and this boy was a threat to them?”Photo: Rick Rowley, BigNoiseFilms.org
Mohammed with The Nation’s Jeremy Scahill. “Those few minutes in Nisour Square, I will never forget, so whatever you ask me, I will answer with absolute clarity,” Mohammed said.Photo: Rick Rowley, BigNoiseFilms.org
Mohammed Kinani’s car after the Nisour Square shooting. “My car was hit many times in different places,” he remembers. “All I could hear from my car was the gun shots and the sound of glass shattering.” Photo courtesy: Mohammed Kinani
Blood on Mohammed’s car, which he says is that of his son, Ali. “I was standing in shock looking at him as the door opened, and his brain fell on the ground between my feet,” Mohammed recalls. “I looked and his brain was on the ground.”Photo courtesy: Mohammed Kinani
The windshield on Mohammed’s car where he says a bullet fired by Blackwater nearly killed his sister, Jenan, who sat in the passenger seat.Photo courtesy: Mohammed Kinani
The headrest on the passenger seat in Mohammed’s car. He says his sister, Jenan, was crouching down in the car when the bullet hit her seat. “We imagined that in few seconds everyone was going to die–everyone in the car, my sister and I, and our children,” remembers Mohammed. “We thought that every second that passed meant one of us dying.” Photo courtesy: Mohammed Kinani
A still image from a video filmed shortly after the Blackwater armored cars departed Nisour Square. It shows the vehicle of Ahmed and Mahassin Al Rubia’y, the first victims in the square that day. “There was absolutely no shooting at the Blackwater men,” Mohammed says. “All of a sudden, they started shooting in all directions and they shot at everyone in front of them. There was nothing left in that street that wasn’t shot: the ground, cars, poles, sidewalks, they shot everything in front of them.”
Iraqi police stand near the al Rubia’ys’ vehicle after the shooting.
The al Rubia’ys’ burnt car.
Shell casings of bullets allegedly fired by Blackwater forces at Nisour Square. “They were shooting in all directions,” Mohammed remembers. He describes the shooting as “random, yet still concentrated. It was concentrated and focused on what they aimed at and still random as they shot in all directions.”
An empty gun magazine found at the square after the shooting with the word “Liberty” written on it. One of the defendants in Mohammed’s case is Evan Liberty, one of the alleged Blackwater shooters that day.
General Ray Odierno wrote the Kinani family to thank them for donating $5000 to the family of a US soldier killed in Iraq. “Your substantial generosity on behalf of the families of fallen American soldiers has touched me deeply,” Odierno wrote.
Mohammed holds a portrait of his family.Photo: Rick Rowley, BigNoiseFilms.org
Nisour Square in 2009.
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The NationTwitterFounded by abolitionists in 1865, The Nation has chronicled the breadth and depth of political and cultural life, from the debut of the telegraph to the rise of Twitter, serving as a critical, independent, and progressive voice in American journalism.