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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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May 21st,
2008 - Iraqi PM Wants U.S. Security Firm Sent Home Early |
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Iraqi PM Wants
U.S. Security Firm Sent Home Early By Associated Press May 21, 2008 Baghdad - Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki has pressed U.S. Embassy officials in recent meetings to pull
the Blackwater USA security firm out of Iraq even before the six-month
deadline he initially set, a top aide to the Iraqi leader said yesterday. The aide said the Americans
responded that they cannot give al-Maliki an answer until the FBI finishes
its inquiry into the incident in which Iraqi officials say Blackwater
personnel killed 17 Iraqis. FBI agents on Saturday began
questioning survivors and other witnesses to the Sept. 16 shooting by guards
in four Blackwater gun trucks. Iraq's government says they opened fire
without provocation; the company says the guards responded to an attack. The State Department also
has teams in Iraq looking into what happened. Patrick Kennedy, the
department's top management official, is said to be studying whether the
agency should continue using Blackwater to provide security. Al-Maliki's aide, who spoke
on condition he not be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter,
said an Australian-owned security firm whose employees mistakenly shot and
killed two Christian women Oct. 9 does not face eviction from Iraq because it
quickly apologized, co-operated with authorities and offered compensation for
the deaths. Iraq's government is
demanding $8 million compensation for each of the 17 people reported killed
in the Sept. 16 incident involving Blackwater. External link: http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/World/2008/05/21/5624596-sun.html |