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http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iraq.html?
_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Blackwater License Being Pulled in Iraq
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: September 17, 2007
Filed at 8:25 a.m. ET
BAGHDAD (AP) -- The Iraqi government said Monday that it was pulling
the license of an American security firm allegedly involved in the
fatal shooting of civilians during an attack on a U.S. State
Department motorcade in Baghdad.
The Interior Ministry said it would prosecute any foreign contractors
found to have used excessive force in the Sunday shooting. It was
latest accusation against the U.S.-contracted firms that operate with
little or no supervision and are widely disliked by Iraqis who resent
their speeding motorcades and forceful behavior.
Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul-Karim Khalaf said eight civilians
were killed and 13 were wounded when security contractors believed to
be working for Blackwater USA opened fire in a predominantly Sunni
neighborhood of western Baghdad.
''We have canceled the license of Blackwater and prevented them from
working all over Iraqi territory. We will also refer those involved
to Iraqi judicial authorities,'' Khalaf said.
The spokesman said witness reports pointed to Blackwater involvement
but said the shooting was still under investigation. It was not
immediately clear if the measure against Blackwater was intended to
be temporary or permanent.
Blackwater, based in Moyock, N.C., provides security for many U.S.
civilian operations in the country.
Phone messages left early Monday at the company's office in North
Carolina and with a spokeswoman were not immediately returned.
The U.S. Embassy said a State Department motorcade came under small-
arms fire that disabled one of the vehicles, which had to be towed
from the scene near Nisoor Square in the Mansour district.
An embassy official provided no information about Iraqi casualties
but said no State Department personnel were wounded or killed. He
spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to
speak to media.
He said the shooting was being investigated by the State Department's
diplomatic security service and law enforcement officials working
with the Iraqi government and the U.S. military.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki late Sunday condemned the shooting by
a ''foreign security company'' and called it a ''crime.''
The decision to pull the license was likely to face a challenge as it
would be a major blow to a company that was at the forefront of one
of the main turning points in the war.
The 2004 battle of Fallujah -- an unsuccessful military assault in
which an estimated 27 U.S. Marines were killed, along with an unknown
number of civilians -- was retaliation for the killing, maiming and
burning of four Blackwater guards in that city by a mob of insurgents.
Tens of thousands of foreign private security contractors work in
Iraq -- some with automatic weapons, body armor, helicopters and
bulletproof vehicles -- to provide protection for Westerners and
dignitaries in Iraq as the country has plummeted toward anarchy and
civil war.
Monday's action against Blackwater was likely to give the unpopular
government a boost, given the contractors' widespread unpopularity.
Many of the contractors have been accused of indiscriminately firing
at American and Iraqi troops, and of shooting to death an unknown
number of Iraqi citizens who got too close to their heavily armed
convoys, but none has faced charges or prosecution.
The question of whether they could face prosecution is a gray legal
area. Unlike soldiers, they are not bound by the Uniform Code of
Military Justice. Under a special provision secured by American-
occupying forces, they are exempt from prosecution by Iraqis for
crimes committed there.
Khalaf, however, denied that the exemption applied to private
security companies.
Iraqi police said the contractors were in a convoy of six sport
utility vehicles and left after the shooting. A witness said the
gunfire broke out following an explosion.
''We saw a convoy of SUVs passing in the street nearby. One minute
later, we heard the sound of a bomb explosion followed by gunfire
that lasted for 20 minutes between gunmen and the convoy people who
were foreigners and dressed in civilian clothes. Everybody in the
street started to flee immediately,'' said Hussein Abdul-Abbas, who
owns a mobile phone store in the area.
The wartime numbers of private guards are unprecedented -- as are
their duties, many of which have traditionally been done by soldiers.
They protect U.S. military operations and diplomats and have guarded
high-ranking officials including Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S.
commander in Baghdad.
They also protect journalists, visiting foreign officials and
thousands of construction projects.
Blackwater has an estimated 1,000 employees in Iraq, and at least
$800 million in government contracts. It is one of the most high-
profile security firms in Iraq, with its fleet of ''Little Bird''
helicopters and armed door gunners swarming Baghdad and beyond.
The secretive company, run by a former Navy SEAL, is based at a
massive, swampland complex. Until the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks,
it had few security contracts.
Since then, Blackwater profits have soared. And it has become the
focus of numerous controversies in Iraq, including the May 30
shooting death of an Iraqi deemed to be driving too close to a
Blackwater security detail.
In violence Monday, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden
car near a busy market in Baghdad, killing three people and wounding
10 in an attack that apparently targeted a police patrol, said a
police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not
authorized to release the information.
Hamid Ghassan, a 20-year-old juice vendor, who described hearing the
blast, said he was dismayed that al-Maliki's government is ''sitting
safe, making agreements and lying to people while masses ... are
being killed.''
------
Associated Press writer Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report.
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