|
The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
|
February 10th,
2010 - Iraq Orders Former Blackwater Security Guards Out |
|
Iraq Orders Former
Blackwater Security Guards Out By Qassim Abdul-Zahra Associated Press February 10, 2010 Baghdad - Iraq has ordered
hundreds of private security guards linked to Blackwater Worldwide to leave
the country within seven days or face possible arrest on visa violations, the
interior minister said Wednesday. The order comes in the wake
of a U.S. judge's dismissal of criminal charges against five Blackwater
guards who were accused in the September 2007 shooting deaths of 17 Iraqis in
Baghdad. It applies to about 250
security contractors who worked for Blackwater in Iraq at the time of the
incident, Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani told The Associated Press. Some of the guards now work
for other security firms in Iraq, while others work for a Blackwater
subsidiary, al-Bolani said. He said all "concerned parties" were
notified of the order three days ago and now have four days left before they
must leave. He did not name the companies. Blackwater security
contractors were protecting U.S. diplomats when the guards opened fire in
Nisoor Square, a busy Baghdad intersection, on Sept. 16, 2007. Seventeen
people were killed, including women and children, in a shooting that inflamed
anti-American sentiment in Iraq. "We want to turn the
page," al-Bolani said. "It was a painful experience, and we would
like to go forward." Backlash from the Blackwater
shooting has been felt hardest by private security contractors, who typically
provide protection for diplomats, journalists and aid workers. Iraqi security
forces have routinely stopped security details at checkpoints to conduct
searches and question guards. Security guards will be
required within the next 10 days to register their weapons with the Ministry
of Interior, al-Bolani said. Failure to do so could result in arrest, he
added. Based in Moyock, North
Carolina, Blackwater is now known as Xe Services, a name change that happened
after six of the security firm's guards were charged in the Nisoor Square
shooting. At the time, Blackwater was the largest of the State Department's
three security contractors working in Iraq. Xe Services said the company
had no employees currently in Iraq, including with its subsidiary,
Presidential Airways. "Xe does not have one,
single person in Iraq," said Xe spokeswoman Stacy DeLuke. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad
declined comment. The State Department in Washington did not immediately
respond to requests seeking comment. The Blackwater guards
involved in the incident said they were ambushed, but U.S. prosecutors and
many Iraqis said they let loose an unprovoked attack on civilians using
machine guns and grenades. One of the accused guards
pleaded guilty in the case, but a federal judge in Washington threw out
charges against the other five in December, ruling that the Justice
Department for mishandling the evidence. The legal ruling infuriated
Iraqis and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki vowed to seek punishment for the
guards. Last month, U.S. Vice
President Joe Biden flew to Baghdad to assure Iraqis the Obama administration
to appeal the case and bring the guards back to trial. The shooting further
strained relations between the United States and Iraq, leading the parliament
in Baghdad to seek new laws that would clear the way for foreign contractors
to be prosecuted in Iraqi courts. The U.S. government rejected those demands
in the Blackwater case. In January 2009, the State
Department informed Blackwater that it would not renew its contracts to
provide security for U.S. diplomats in Iraq because of the Iraqi government's
refusal to grant it an operating license. But last September, the
State Department said it temporarily extended a contract with Blackwater
subsidiary Presidential Airways to provide air support for U.S. diplomats.
The State Department has since ended its contracts with Xe, and DynCorp
International has taken over air support. The Justice Department now
is investigating whether Blackwater tried to bribe Iraqi officials with $1
million to allow the company to keep working there after the Baghdad
shooting, according to U.S. officials close to the probe. Elsewhere in Iraq, attackers
bombed an oil pipeline north of Baghdad, cutting production in half at a
refinery in the capital, the Oil Ministry said Wednesday. There were no injuries in
Tuesday night's bombing in Rashidiya, just north of Baghdad. Production at the Baghdad
refinery was cut from 140,000 barrels per day to 70,000, said Oil Ministry
spokesman Assem Jihad. The pipeline runs from oil
fields in northern Kirkuk province to Baghdad. It has been the target of
attacks for years, and has been bombed multiple times since 2004. Associated Press Writers
Lara Jakes, Mazin Yahya and Chelsea J. Carter in Baghdad; Meg Kinnard in
Columbia, South Carolina; and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this
report. External link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/10/AR2010021001262.html |