Iraq vows to charge guards in Blackwater

MIDDLE EAST:The Iraqi government has pledged to prosecute guards employed by the US Blackwater security contractor for the fatal shooting of 17 civilians in Baghdad last month.

An official inquiry, headed by defence minister Abdel Qader al- Obeidi, found that the guards, who were protecting a diplomatic convoy, had not been attacked, as they claimed, but had opened fire at a busy intersection in the capital.

Government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said the three-member panel "found there was no evidence that the Blackwater convoy came under fire directly or indirectly. It was not hit even by a stone." He observed that the cabinet would look at the commission's recommendations and "take legal steps to hold the company to account".

Although the interior ministry has drafted legislation to deal with crimes committed by contractors, it is unlikely that the US will permit prosecutions.

According to a 2003 decree issued by Paul Bremer, former US chief administrator in Iraq, US troops and contractors are not subject to Iraqi law.

There are 100 private contractors with more than 160,000 employees operating in Iraq, providing protection, catering services and transport. Nearly 50,000 are armed guards. Security personnel employed by the Pentagon, estimated to number more than 7,000, are governed by military codes, but State Department contractors are not. Consequently, they are answerable to no one.

None has been prosecuted in the US for crimes committed in Iraq. A drunken Blackwater employee who last December shot and killed an Iraqi bodyguard for Shia vice president Adel Abdel Mahdi was promptly flown back to the US and has not been indicted.

Iraqis say that both troops - who are rarely prosecuted for killing or wounding Iraqi civilians and destroying Iraqi property - and contractors act with impunity. Iraqi drivers normally give a wide berth to US convoys, but cannot always manage, risking being rammed by or shot from speeding SUVs weaving through traffic or driving on the wrong side of the street. The convoys never stop to see what damage they have done.

Iraqi officials complain that Blackwater guards were back on the country's roads four days after the latest shootings, in spite of the demand by prime minister Nuri al-Maliki that all but the perpetrators should be withdrawn.

The Iraqi commission's findings confirm accusations made 10 days ago by a US congressional committee that the use of force by Blackwater personnel is frequent, extensive, "excessive" and "pre-emptive" rather than in response to attacks.

There are currently 861 Blackwater guards in Iraq providing protection for State Department employees travelling outside the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad. Two other companies, Dyncorp and Triple Canopy, perform the same service in the north and south.

Blackwater's actions have compelled Washington to initiate investigations into all security companies operating in Iraq, but the little credibility Mr Maliki enjoys is fast fading. He cannot afford to back down over Blackwater while the Pentagon, its forces stretched to the maximum, cannot afford to deploy troops to protect diplomats, risking further Blackwater killings of civilians.