Iraq ends US security firm Blackwater licence
The Iraqi interior ministry has cancelled the operating licence of a US security firm after it was involved in a shootout that killed eight people, a senior official said.
Abdul-Karim Khalaf, a ministry spokesman, said 13 people were wounded when Blackwater USA staff opened fire in a Baghdad incident involving an attack on a US motorcade.
"The interior minister has issued an order to cancel Blackwater's licence and the company is prohibited from operating anywhere in Iraq," Khalaf said on Monday.
"We have opened a criminal investigation against the group who committed the crime."
The spokesman said witness reports pointed to Blackwater involvement but said the incident, in a predominantly Sunni area of western Baghdad on Sunday, was still under investigation.
US troops are immune from prosecution in Iraq under the UN resolution that authorises their presence, but Khalaf said the exemption did not apply to private security companies.
'Crime' committed
Blackwater, based in North Carolina, provides security for many US civilian operations in the country.
The company was not immediately available for comment.
The US embassy in Baghdad 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.
A state department official said the shooting was being investigated by the department's diplomatic security service and officials working with the Iraqi government and the US military.
Late on Sunday, Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, condemned the shooting by a "foreign security company" and called it a "crime".
Secretive force
Tens of thousands of private security contractors operate in Iraq - some using automatic weapons and body armour, helicopters and bulletproof vehicles.
They also protect journalists, visiting foreign officials and thousands of construction projects.
Blackwater has an estimated 1,000 employees in Iraq, and at least $800m in government contracts.
It is one of the most high-profile security firms in Iraq.
The secretive company is based at a massive complex in North Carolina.
Until the September 11 attacks, it had few security contracts, but since then, Blackwater profits have soared.
It has become the focus of numerous contractor controversies in Iraq, including the May 30 shooting of an Iraqi believed to be driving too close to a Blackwater security detail.
Witness testimony
Iraqi police said the contractors were in a convoy of six four-wheel-drive vehicles and left the scene after the shooting.
Hassan Jabar Salman was hit by five bullets while trying to flee the scene of the incident in his car, he told the AFP news agency while recovering in Baghdad's Al-Yarmouk hospital.
Salman said he heard an explosion near Al-Nisoor Square and saw the convoy two cars ahead of him.
"The foreigners in the convoy started shouting and signalling us to go back.
"I turned around and must have driven 100 feet [30 metres] when they started shooting.
"There were eight of them in four utility vehicles and all shooting with heavy machine guns," he said as he lay wrapped in bloodied bandages on the hospital bed.
"My car was hit with 12 bullets, of which four hit me in the back and one in the arm."
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/878669E4-A51E-46D0-8340-FAB018C13...
Iraqi officials grew a spine and protected their citizens from unaccountable mercenaries.
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"Money" has no value - people do.
I can only echo what QRSWave said. It is about time, but the real pity is that they didn't do it earlier. Better late than never, I suppose.
I can't help but wonder what work they'll find for the Blackwater Gestapo when they arrive back on home soil? FEMA camp guards? Private SWAT teams? The possibilities are endless... unfortunately.
what goes around, comes around
I know. I don't live in that part of the world, or at least not these days, but I do feel for anyone who is the victim of state-sponsored oppression, whether they are Iraqi or American.
These so called security contractors are riddled with ziostaniacs and mossad types who are planting the roadside bombs and using Iraqis to deliver their so called suicide bombs and car bombs which they set off via remote control.
The number of civilian bombing deaths will drop dramatically when these mercenaries are shown the door.
Greg Bacon
Iraqi PM Maliki already knows who the real power is in Baghad and he's about to get another slap in the face from the Imperial Powers that be in America.
Blackwater will not get booted out of Iraq, as they are too well connected to the WH and also to the Christian REICH-wing fundies.
The Iraqi's might bitch up a storm, but sooner or later, they will be reined in by President Cheney and his loyal sidekick, the Smirking Idiot Chimp.
My bet is that Blackwater stays and Maliki is the one who gets booted.
"charging a man with murder in this place was like handing out speeding tickets in the Indy 500."
The declaration made by the Prime Minister and sensationalized by the media is nothing but an attempt by the PM to seem distanced from and tough on American influence.
The truth is that BlackWater does not need a so-called "license." Any company working under a Department of State contract is operating under the aegis of the DoS, not their own "license." It seems that BlackWater's "license" to operate independently has been out of date in Iraq for some time now. This has, in now way, impacted their ability to function under the DoS.
Various factors within the US socio-political climate have created the need for the primacy of special operation groups and weapon-card contractors. These are the same needs that engendered the surge of interest in the use of armed un-manned aerial vehicles. Although this trend accelerated during the VietNam conflict, it is a long-term trend involving special-forces and ex-special-forces starting with the Jedburgh Teams during World-War II. This situation will not change simply because a minor PM barks.