Blackwater plot thickens

[Androsphinx]

From the Beeb:

Blackwater men 'given immunity'

Blackwater guards are currently immune from prosecution in Iraq
Private US security contractors accused of shooting dead 17 innocent Iraqis may have been offered partial immunity by the US state department, say reports.

Unnamed officials said the offer was unauthorised and could make it much more difficult to prosecute the guards employed by the Blackwater firm.

If confirmed, the revelation may put further strain on US-Iraq relations.

The Iraqi government was furious at the 16 September deaths, and demanded the guards be handed over to face trial.

Blackwater says its staff acted in self-defence.

Legal confusion

The Associated Press news agency quotes three unnamed senior law enforcement officials as saying that all the guards involved in the case were given the legal protections as investigators from the Bureau of Diplomatic Security looked into what had happened.

The bureau is the investigative arm of the Department of State.


Injured Iraqi being treated after Blackwater shootings

Shoot-out: What happened

The guards were offered "limited-use immunity deals", reported the New York Times, which protects them against prosecution for anything they might say in interviews with authorities as long as their statements are true.

The FBI took over the investigation earlier this month, after the justice department realised it would not be able to bring charges based on the guards' statements to the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, reported AP. But some of the Blackwater employees have now reportedly refused to answer further questions from FBI investigators.

Unnamed officials speaking to the New York Times questioned whether Bureau of Diplomatic Security officials had the authority to offer such deals - making the legal validity of the offers unclear.

Nonetheless, if the reports do turn out to be true, they could further complicate the issue of how the guards could be tried.

The contractors are currently granted immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law by Order 17 of the Coalition Provisional Authority - the now-defunct interim body set up by the US-led coalition in the wake of the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Private firms working for the Department of Defence are subject to existing US legislation, but those private firms such as Blackwater working for the state department are not.

Iraqi rage

Last Wednesday, the head of the BDS Richard Griffin resigned following a state department report which identified an urgent need for tougher oversight of the private firms.

The biggest and best-known of the companies is Blackwater.

The Iraqi government accuses Blackwater of the deaths of the 17 innocent civilians in Baghdad, and says it wants the firm out of the country.

The Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Maliki, has described the shooting as a "criminal act" and an inquiry by the Iraqi interior ministry concluded the security guards were "100% guilty".

The head of Blackwater denies the killings were unprovoked, insisting his men had been fired upon.

[The Spartan]

And now they may lose it.

Link

Iraq to lift contractors' immunity?
Move follows word that Blackwater guards in deadly incident got protection
The Associated Press
Updated: 8:39 a.m. CT Oct 30, 2007
BAGHDAD - The Iraqi government on Tuesday approved draft legislation lifting immunity for foreign private security companies, sending the measure to parliament, a spokesman said.

The question of immunity has been one of the most serious dispute between the U.S. and the Iraqi government since a Sept. 16 shooting involving Blackwater USA guards that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead.

The government’s decision followed reports that the State Department has promised Blackwater bodyguards immunity from prosecution in its investigation of last month’s shooting.

State Department officials declined to confirm or deny that immunity had been granted. Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell has declined comment about the U.S. investigation.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the draft law approved Tuesday would overturn an immunity order known as Decree 17 that was issued by L. Paul Bremer, who ran the American occupation government until June 2004.

“It will be sent to the parliament within the coming days to be ratified,” he told The Associated Press.

Al-Dabbagh did not single out Blackwater but said: “According to this law, all security companies will subjected to the Iraqi criminal law and must obey all the country’s legal regulations such as: registration, customs, visas, etcetera.”

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo said she had not seen the measure and had no immediate comment. The embassy has said it was waiting for the results of investigations.


Anger growns over Blackwater shootings
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has promised to push through the measure amid growing public anger over the Blackwater shootings in Baghdad and a series of other Iraqi civilian deaths allegedly at the hands of foreign contractors.

Three senior U.S. law enforcement officials told The Associated Press that all the Blackwater bodyguards involved — both in the vehicle convoy and in at least two helicopters above — were given the legal protection as investigators from the Bureau of Diplomatic Security sought to find out what happened. The bureau is an arm of the State Department.

The law enforcement and State Department officials agreed to speak only if they could remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the inquiry into the incident.

The Moyock, N.C.-based company, which is the largest private security firm protecting U.S. diplomats in Iraq, has said its Sept. 16 convoy was under attack before it opened fire in west Baghdad’s Nisoor Square, killing 17 Iraqis. A follow-up investigation by the Iraqi government, however, concluded that Blackwater’s men were unprovoked. No witnesses have been found to contradict that finding.

An initial incident report by U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in Iraq, also indicated “no enemy activity involved” in the Sept. 16 incident. The report says Blackwater guards were traveling against the flow of traffic through a traffic circle when they “engaged five civilian vehicles with small arms fire” at a distance of 50 yards.

The FBI took over the case early this month, officials said, after prosecutors in the Justice Department’s criminal division realized it could not bring charges against Blackwater guards based on their statements to the Diplomatic Security investigators.

Blackwater’s contract with the State Department expires in May and there are questions whether it will remain as the primary contractor for diplomatic bodyguards.

Congress also is expected to investigate the shootings, but a House watchdog committee said it has so far held off, based on a Justice Department request that lawmakers wait until the FBI concludes its inquiry.

Assuming this passes, it'll be interesting to see just how far Iraqi sovereignty will be allowed to go.

My gut feeling is that Blackwater will be withdrawn from Iraq but given cushy assignments elsewhere. Think something along the lines of what happened with Libby; he got convicted but was all but let entirely off the hook and now gets to make buckets of money writing books and lecturing.

But I could be wrong...

[Sidewinder]

The US is in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't," situation. If they continue to employ Blackwater in Iraq, the Iraqis will hate the US even more for this, and the goal of establishing an Iraqi government friendly to the US will be much more difficult. If they stop employing Blackwater in Iraq, they won't have enough people to protect State Department personnel and assets-- there's no way the US military has enough people to spare for such missions.

Pick your poison, Bush.

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

Pick your poison, Bush.

Easy, find whichever one does more damage in the long run, then put money on it. Bush will be guaranteed to pick it!

[SirNitram]

Pick your poison, Bush.

Easy, find whichever one does more damage in the long run, then put money on it. Bush will be guaranteed to pick it!

So he'll continue to employ Blackwater until and after they go from merely threatening the US Military with unsafetied firearms, to actually firing on them.

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

Pick your poison, Bush.

Easy, find whichever one does more damage in the long run, then put money on it. Bush will be guaranteed to pick it!

So he'll continue to employ Blackwater until and after they go from merely threatening the US Military with unsafetied firearms, to actually firing on them.

That's the idea, I think. May the Army and Marines put down those fuckers like the mangy terrorists they are, permanently!

[weemadando]

What? People didn't already know about the blanket exemption from prosecution that Bremer gave them?

[Coalition]

What? People didn't already know about the blanket exemption from prosecution that Bremer gave them?

Now this could be fun.

Instead of nailing Blackwater for the crimes, whoever gave them immunity should be held accountable.

I bet that very for other 'immunity' agreements will be given without a lot of review.

[SirNitram]

The blanket immunity has been repealed by the Iraqi government. Thus it is now a test of Iraqi sovereignty vs. Bush ass-covering. Expect Bush to ass-cover.

But yea. This is an interesting situation. Apparently, it was 'routine' to grant 'Use immunity' to BW and other PSC's. It's not Transactional immunity, as I understand it, but it means that nothing about their statements to the State department.. including the fact they spoke to the State department.. could be used in criminal proceedings.

Question: How do you prove anything happened when the other side can just introduce reasonable doubt you started your investigation because they spoke to State, thus getting it all thrown out?

[Flagg]

Question: How do you prove anything happened when the other side can just introduce reasonable doubt you started your investigation because they spoke to State, thus getting it all thrown out?

You have to go to the Iraqi witnesses. Basically, restart the entire investigation from scratch.

[Flagg]

Ghetto Edit:

Or even better, sieze their passports and let the Iraqis deal with them.

[SirNitram]

Question: How do you prove anything happened when the other side can just introduce reasonable doubt you started your investigation because they spoke to State, thus getting it all thrown out?

You have to go to the Iraqi witnesses. Basically, restart the entire investigation from scratch.

Witnesses? Why would you think there were witnesses unless you heard of a State Department meeting?

That's the ridiculous shit this has apparently caused.

[Flagg]

Question: How do you prove anything happened when the other side can just introduce reasonable doubt you started your investigation because they spoke to State, thus getting it all thrown out?

You have to go to the Iraqi witnesses. Basically, restart the entire investigation from scratch.

Witnesses? Why would you think there were witnesses unless you heard of a State Department meeting?

That's the ridiculous shit this has apparently caused.

There are news reports, I'd imagine.

[Repoman]

Now this could be fun.
Instead of nailing Blackwater for the crimes, whoever gave them immunity should be held accountable.

Immunity for Blackwater (from Iraqi prosecution) is no different than the immunity US troops have. And this makes sense. It was all spelled out in the SOFA between the IPA and the new Iraqi government.

What is interesting about this state of affairs is [n]not[/b] that Blackwater operatives are immune from Iraqi prosecution (all US forces are immune), it is that they are also immune from UCMJ prosecution by the fact that they aren't US military personel. They are also immune from US civil prosecution because Iraq is not a part of the US.

So what is the worst that can happen to the BW employees involved in this shooting? Even if the very worst possible situation is true and they just decided to randomly slaughtered 17 civilians, nothing can be "legally" done to them.

The actual fallout of this event will most likely be that Congress will need to pass a law that authorizes the military to place civilian contractors under UCMJ on a voluntary basis (it must be voluntary, but it would actually be a condition of deployment).

What is more difficult to resolve is that the Blackwater team involved in this incident was under contract to the State Department, not the DOD. The Stae department has no separate legal system.

Because of this, I envision that all civilian contractors in Iraq will be contracted by the DOD and then sub-contracted out to their actual handlers. In effect they will notice no difference and this will be nothing but a paper-pushing excercise which serves to put the contractors under the UCMJ.

The Iraqi government will grudgingly agree with this and that will be that.