Baghdad , Iraq ( CNN ) -- The United States plans to appeal a federal judge 's dismissal of charges against five Blackwater security guards accused of killing 17 people in Baghdad in 2007 , Vice President Joe Biden announced Saturday . Speaking at a joint appearance with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani in Baghdad , Biden said he was `` disappointed '' with the ruling , and that the Justice Department would file the appeal next week . `` The United States is determined to hold accountable anyone who commits crimes against the Iraqi people , '' Biden told reporters . The September 2007 shootout in Baghdad 's Nusoor Square left 17 Iraqis dead and two dozen wounded . The killings led Iraq 's government to slap limits on security contractors hired by Blackwater , now known as Xe , and other firms . An attorney representing one of the five defendants in the case said he was disappointed by Biden 's announcement in Iraq , saying it was motivated by `` political purposes '' as opposed to legal reasoning . `` This is not how the Justice Department announces its intentions in any case , '' said David Schertler , attorney for Dustin Heard . `` We had no idea that the vice president was going to announce a political decision . '' Last month , U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina found that the government 's case was built largely on `` statements compelled under a threat of job loss in a subsequent criminal prosecution , '' a violation of the Fifth Amendment rights of the five men charged . `` In their zeal to bring charges against the defendant in this case , the prosecutors and investigators aggressively sought out statements the defendants had been compelled to make to government investigators in the immediate aftermath of the shooting and in the subsequent investigation , '' Urbina wrote in a 90-page decision . Federal prosecutors `` repeatedly disregarded the warnings of experienced , senior prosecutors assigned to the case '' in doing so , he found . Urbina also sharply criticized prosecutors and federal agents who developed the case , calling their explanations for using the guards ' statements `` all too often contradictory , unbelievable and lacking in credibility . '' `` In short , the government has utterly failed to prove that it made no impermissible use of the defendants ' statements or that such use was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt , '' he wrote . Schertler , Heard 's attorney , said Urbina 's `` reasoning is sound and will hold up in appeal . '' The men were guarding a State Department convoy moving through western Baghdad when the shooting began . The company said its contractors came under attack , but Iraqi authorities called the gunfire unprovoked and indiscriminate . Each of the now-former guards -- Paul Slough , Evan Liberty , Dustin Heard , Donald Ball and Nicholas Slatten -- faced 14 counts of manslaughter , 20 counts of attempted manslaughter and one count of using a firearm in the commission of a violent crime . Prosecutors requested that charges against Slatten be dropped in November , but Thursday 's ruling dismisses the counts against all five . `` We 're obviously pleased at the decision dismissing the entire indictment and are very happy that these courageous young men can begin the new year without this unfair cloud hanging over them , '' Slough 's lawyer , Mark Hulkower , said at the time of the dismissal . A sixth guard , Jeremy Ridgeway , pleaded guilty in 2008 to voluntary manslaughter and attempted manslaughter . CNN 's Dan Lothian and Samira Simone contributed to this report .
Five Blackwater security guards accused of killing 17 people in Baghdad in 2007 . The U.S. government has paid out more than $900 million to settle lawsuits over the incident. Judge found case was built largely on `` statements compelled under a threat of job loss '' Joe Biden said he is '' disappointed '' with the ruling , Justice Department will appeal .