Blackwater Pulls Out The Stops; Iraq Moves On Bill

Blackwater is spending cash hand-over-fist as it tries to salvage its reputation and cash cow, according to this report in the NY Times.

In addition to hiring a stable of lawyers, consultants and PR folks, the firm has an aggressive legal strategy. In a North Carolina case, Blackwater has "[sought] a gag order on the lawyers for the families of four Blackwater employees killed in an ambush in Falluja in 2004."

This high stakes action follows a September shooting in Iraq that lasted as long as 20 minutes, according to news reports, and claimed the lives of 17 civilians, according to the Iraqi government.

Consequently, this week the Iraq cabinet passed a draft law "that would end the immunity from prosecution of foreign security contractors working in the country." Next, Parliament reviews the proposed legislation, which amends Order 17, implemented when Paul Bremer III led the Coalition Provisional Authority. [Blackwater provided security for Bremer as part of a $27 million no-bid contract.]

No doubt the Iraq leaders were spurred to action when the NYT reported, and the State Department confirmed, "that some Blackwater employees questioned in connection with the shootings had been granted a form of immunity in exchange for their statements."

We don't know who and how much immunity; deals such as this (testimony in exchange for immunity) are not uncommon in the US criminal justice system. But in this case, the crimes weren't committed in the US, they were committed in Iraq -- and that's where justice should be served. We'd say the same if the shoe were on the other foot.

Last month, the Jurist reported that Congress has begun to partially address these issues:

Efforts to ensure legal accountability for contractors remain incomplete. An amendment to a Defense Department spending bill last year now means that military contractors in Iraq are subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The bill [see S. 552, Clarification of Application of Uniform Code of Military Justice During a Time of War] does not apply to State Department contractors; the Blackwater employee involved in Sunday's shooting was contracted by the US State Department.

In September, The Nation published testimony from Jeremy Scahill, one of the magazine's investigative reporters and author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army.

The Iraqi government says it has evidence of seven deadly incidents involving Blackwater... What we do know is that in just the past nine months, Blackwater forces have been involved with several fatal actions.

Brigadier General Karl Horst, deputy commander of the 3rd Infantry Division said of private security contractors, "These guys run loose in this country and do stupid stuff. There's no authority over them, so you can't come down on them hard when they escalate force.... They shoot people, and someone else has to deal with the aftermath. It happens all over the place." Horst tracked contractor conduct for a two month period in Baghdad and documented at least a dozen shootings of Iraqi civilians by contractors, resulting in six Iraqi deaths and the wounding of three others. That is just one General in one area of Iraq in just 60 days.

Accountability can't come soon enough.