Blackwatergate: Iraq's Cabinet Approves Lifting Immunity for Security Firms
By newsdesk - Posted on October 31st, 2007
Tagged: Blackwater
• Condi Rice
• Contractors
• Crime
• George W Bush
• Iraq
• Iraq war
• Military
• Republican Party
• Scandal
• State Department
30 October 2007 -- An Iraqi government spokesman says Iraq's Cabinet has approved draft legislation that lifts immunity from prosecution for private security firms in Iraq.
The spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, said on Tuesday the measure will subject all security companies to Iraqi law and revoke the immunity given to foreign security contractors by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority in 2004.
He says the legislation will be sent to the parliament for ratification.
Even if Iraqi lawmakers approve the legislation to lift immunity, it will not apply retroactively to the guards from Blackwater USA who are accused of shooting and killing 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad last month.
But a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, Sean McCormack, told reporters Tuesday that the immunity extended to the Blackwater guards is limited, and they could still face criminal prosecution.
The security firm says the Iraqis were killed when guards responded lawfully to an attack on a U.S. diplomatic convoy.
In other news, Reporters Without Borders has condemned the killing of Iraqi journalist in the capital.
The Iraq Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, a non-governmental organization, reported Tuesday that the body of Shehab Mohammed al-Hiti was found in northern Baghdad on Saturday. He disappeared on his way to work earlier that day.
Separately, Iraq's parliament filled two of the six ministerial posts vacated earlier this year by ministers loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
The ministers had quit to protest the government's refusal to set a timetable for a U.S. troop withdrawal.
Parliament earlier approved the appointment of Saleh al-Hasnawi as health minister and Ali al-Bahadeli as agriculture minister.
In other news, Iranian state media quote Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki as rejecting U.S. accusations that Iran is responsible for the deaths of American forces in Iraq. He accused the U.S. government of lying about Iranian involvement in Iraq.
The U.S. has accused Iran of supplying weapons and training to militias fighting U.S. forces in Iraq.
Iranian media say Mottaki is to visit Baghdad on Wednesday for talks with Iraqi officials on bilateral issues.
Source: VOA News
Bookmark/Search this post with:
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
Related articles
- Blackwatergate: Kerry Pushes for Blackwater Contract Details from Bush Administration
- Blackwatergate: Conyers, Price and Schakowsky Demand Answers About Blackwater Immunity Deal
- Blackwatergate: Joe Biden Questions Grants of Immunity to Blackwater Employees
- Blackwatergate: State Department Says Prosecution of Blackwater Guards Still Possible
- Blackwatergate: US Moves Toward New Rules for Iraq Security Contractors
Latest stories
- Pelosi: The Legislation Has Failed But the Crisis Has Not Gone Away; We Must Work in a Bipartisan Way to Pass New Legislation
- Congressman Hoyer Statement Following Vote on Emergency Economic Stabilization Act
- Senator McCaskill Calls for Greater Accountability on Wall Street
- Senator Bob Casey Statement on Bailout Bill
- Senator Hillary Clinton Calls for Bipartisan Action on Economic Crisis
- Congress Passes Obama, Murkowski, Allen Bill to Ban Dangerous Mercury Exports
- Barack Obama Statement on Financial Plan Breakthrough
- Barack Obama Calls on VA Secretary to Provide Critical Data on Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans to Improve Veterans Services
- Statement from Senator Barack Obama on Washington Mutual
- Small Wind Energy on the Rise in US
Yes We Can
Yes We Can:
