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Blackwater Mercenaries Shoot Up Civilians, Police in Baghdad; License Revoked

Reuters. Posted September 17, 2007.


Blackwater will be banned for incident that highlights dangers of mercenary troops.
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Iraq announced on Monday it had withdrawn the license of a U.S. security firm and would prosecute employees it said were involved in a shooting in Baghdad in which 11 people were killed.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said security personnel working for contractors Blackwater had opened fire after mortar rounds landed near their cars in Nusour Square in the western Baghdad district of Mansour.

"By chance the company was passing by. They opened fire randomly at citizens," Brigadier-General Abdul-Karim Khalaf said. Eleven people were killed, including one policeman, and 13 people were wounded, he said.

The U.S. military said on Sunday security contractors working for the State Department were involved in an incident, but gave no further details.

No one was immediately available to comment at Blackwater offices in North Carolina.

"We have withdrawn its license," Khalaf said, adding that the ministry had also formed a committee to investigate the incident and "deliver those who committed this act to the court."

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki condemned the shooting and vowed to punish the perpetrators and their employers.

"We will work to punish and halt the work of the security company which conducted this criminal act," state television quoted him as saying.

Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani said security contractors "must respect Iraqi laws and the right of Iraqis to independence on their land."

"These cases have happened more than once and we can't keep silent in the face of them," he told Arabiya television.

Thousands of private security contractors, many of them American and European, have worked in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Many Iraqis believe they operate outside the law with little accountability either to the Iraqi government or U.S. military forces.

Khalaf did not say how many contractors were involved in the shooting. He said the investigating committee had gone to the scene and spoken to witnesses, and would also visit the company's compound in Baghdad.

AlterNet is making this material available in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

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Whose next?
Posted by: Constitutionalist75 on Sep 17, 2007 6:23 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
When those mercenary killers are finally kicked out of Iraq, their next targets are likely to be Americans. Only Bush & Cheney's impeachment and removal from office could stop it.
Otherwise, get ready to duck and cover.

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» Blackshirter out of Iraq? Posted by: Chickensh*tEagle
blackwater
Posted by: cwilsondrum on Sep 17, 2007 2:39 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
who do you think has been killing political opponents to the oil deal in Iraq? It isn't the Iraqi police. Bush's private police force, that is not accountable to anyone, has free reign on killings. oppose the oil bill and find yourelf visited in the middle of the night by private police.

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Many Iraqis believe they operate outside the law with little accountability either to..."
Posted by: Ian MacLeod on Sep 18, 2007 12:28 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"...the Iraqi government or U.S. military forces."

They believe right, too. Paul Bremer officially made them entirely unaccountable and unprosecutable in Iraq for ANYTHING. Here in the States, Blackwater is known as THE "security contractor"; they have deep connections to the administration, the CIA and NSA and most other military and law enforcement. They claim to have "black" contracts they can't even talk to uninvolved agencies about. They certainly have the pull to get out of this with minimal problems. Oh, they're also called "Bush and Cheney's private army". They're also owned and run by a very monied family that is also Dominionist.

Others have attempted to investigate them before, only to be stopped by some high-up type in the administration who claims "National Security" and tells investigators sorry, but they can't have that info. I will be VERY surprised if this time is any different. Too bad, too. They're damned dangerous to America and Americans, and this incident is one of literally thousands of others.

Ian

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