[Peace] Blackwater security firm banned from Iraq

[Brian Dolinar]

Blackwater security firm banned from Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq's Interior Ministry has revoked the license of
Blackwater USA, an American security firm whose contractors are blamed for a
Sunday gunbattle in Baghdad that left eight civilians dead.
art.blackwater.sign.ap.jpg

Blackwater USA is headquartered near Moyock, North Carolina.

Blackwater, one of many security firms contracted by the U.S. government
during the Iraq war, provides protection for American diplomats.

Sunday's firefight took place near Nusoor Square, an area that straddles the
predominantly Sunni Arab neighborhoods of Mansour and Yarmouk.

In addition to the fatalities, 14 people were wounded, most of them
civilians, the official said.

The ministry said the incident began around midday, when a convoy of sport
utility vehicles came under fire from unidentified gunmen in the square.

The men in the SUVs, described by witnesses as Westerners, returned fire,
and the witnesses said the vehicles are the kind used by Western security
firms.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad confirmed a State Department
convoy was in the area.

"We are taking it very seriously. We are cooperating with the Iraqi
government on several different levels and will continue this cooperation
with Iraqi officials," the embassy official said.

"We will continue to work and address these issues with our Iraqi
counterparts on a variety of levels."

There has been insurgent activity in Yarmouk and Mansour, the location of
many foreign embassies. Many Western contractors had been based in Mansour
at one time but moved out because of insurgent violence and kidnappings.

"We have revoked Blackwater's license to operate in Iraq. As of now they are
not allowed to operate anywhere in the Republic of Iraq," Interior Ministry
spokesman Brig. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf said Monday. "The investigation is
ongoing, and all those responsible for Sunday's killing will be referred to
Iraqi justice."

Blackwater is one of many security firms contracted by the U.S. government
during the Iraq war. An estimated 25,000-plus employees of private security
firms are working in Iraq, guarding diplomats, reconstruction workers and
government officials. As many as 200 are believed to have been killed on the
job, according to U.S. congressional reports.

Some Blackwater personnel died in a grisly incident in Iraq more than three
years ago that sparked shock and outrage in the United States.

Four Americans working as private security personnel for Blackwater, all of
whom were military veterans, were ambushed, killed and mutilated in March
2004 in Falluja, west of Baghdad.

People close to the company estimate it has lost about 30 employees during
the war.

Iraqi authorities have issued previous complaints about shootings by private
military contractors, but Iraqi courts do not have the authority to bring
contractors to trial, according to a July report from the Congressional
Research Service.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee estimated in February
that nearly $4 billion had been spent on security contracts amid the
insurgency that followed the U.S. invasion in 2003 -- costs that have forced
the delay, cancellation or scaling back of some reconstruction projects.

Meanwhile, seven people were killed and 31 others were detained Monday in
U.S.-led coalition raids across Iraq, the U.S. military said.

The fatalities occurred west of Yusufiya, southwest of the capital, as
coalition forces targeted two buildings used by al Qaeda in Iraq militants,
who organize suicide attacks.

Armed men at one building drew weapons as troops approached, and the troops
"engaged" the two and killed them, the statement said.

They killed four others who were apparently acting as lookouts and another
who wouldn't surrender when ordered. Nineteen people were detained, the
military said.

Troops arrested other suspects in regions north of the capital -- north of
Taji, near Balad, in Baiji and near the Syrian border.

In Baghdad, three people were killed and 11 others were wounded Monday when
a parked car detonated near a Shiite mosque on the edge of a densely
populated Shiite neighborhood, an Interior Ministry official said.

-- 
Brian Dolinar, Ph.D.
303 W. Locust St.
Urbana, IL 61801
briandolinar at gmail.com
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