Blackwater shootings case moved to Washington DC

what say ye on who blackwater should be accountable to? going forward, as part of bush and iraqi agreement, they mist abide by iraq laws. but incidents prior to that--not to military, not to iraq, seems no accountability to anyone? so they thought and were maybe encouraged to think?

i was glad to see the trial will be in dc rather than utah.

part of the article posted below..

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97024422

Five Blackwater Worldwide guards charged with the unprovoked shooting that killed 14 innocent Iraqis and wounded dozens of others in 2007 will get their day in a Washington court after unsuccessfully trying to move the trial to Utah.

A federal judge on Monday ordered the guards to report Jan. 6 to a District of Columbia courthouse, where they are expected to plead not guilty.

The decision came hours after prosecutors announced charges against the guards that carry mandatory 30-year prison terms for the wild gunfire and grenade attacks on a Baghdad street.

Defense attorneys sought to move the case to Utah, where one of the five guards lives, in hopes of appealing to conservative jurors who may be more sympathetic to the war in Iraq than those in Washington.

But the Justice Department argued that the case should remain in Washington, where a sixth guard who turned against his former colleagues has already pleaded guilty in a deal to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for lesser charges.

A federal magistrate in Salt Lake City agreed, although defense attorneys can appeal for the right to return to Utah.