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TechnoratiMaliki Insists Blackwater Must Pay for Shootings
The Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, showed an unexpected streak of stubbornness yesterday in his stand-off with the US over the Blackwater shootings, insisting that action had to be taken against the private security firm.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Mr Maliki, who is in New York for the United Nations general assembly, said Blackwater posed "a serious challenge to the sovereignty of Iraq and cannot be accepted".
His comments were at odds with a briefing of journalists by an Iraqi official in Baghdad who said the expulsion of Blackwater, which has 1,000 staff in the country and provides protection for the US ambassador and other US diplomats, would leave a security vacuum.
Blackwater guards are alleged to have shot 11 civilians in Baghdad last Sunday while protecting a US diplomatic convoy. Blackwater said they were returning fire, while the Iraqi government insisted they opened fire first.
Although the Iraqi government's immediate response was to order the expulsion of Blackwater, the guards are still in Iraq and resumed work on Friday. The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, has pleaded for them to remain and the row has turned into a test of Iraqi autonomy.
Mr Maliki, whose control over an unwieldy coalition government is shaky, is under pressure to punish Blackwater, which has been involved in a series of controversial shootings in Iraq.
But an Iraqi government spokesman on security, Tahseen al-Sheikhly, told a news conference in Baghdad that Blackwater and other western security firms were doing a good job protecting diplomats.
"If we drive out or expel this company immediately there will be a security vacuum that will demand pulling some troops that work in the field so that we can protect these institutes," he said. "This will create a security imbalance."
Although security firms are not subject to Iraqi law, Mr Sheikhly said Iraqi courts should deal with any crime.
A new point of tension emerged yesterday over the US military forces' arrest of an Iranian on Thursday. Mr Maliki, a Shia Muslim who has a good relationship with Tehran, said the man had been invited to Iraq. "The government of Iraq is an elected one and sovereign. When it gives a visa it is responsible for the visa. We consider the arrest ... of this individual who holds an Iraqi visa and a [valid] passport to be unacceptable."
© 2007 The Guardian
11 Comments so far
Show AllWhen Blackwater morphs into a multi-national corporation, it will be subservient to no government anywhere, only to its owners.
Blackwater = Brownshirts
This article mentions eleven dead. The reporter is behind the times. As of yesterday, 28 had died with more deaths of extremely critically injured expected. Three of the eleven were a family with mother and infant in the back seat screaming while Blackwater blew up the gas tank and immolated them alive. At least one Baghdad policeman, doing his duty to rescue people, was killed. What started it all was a bomb going off close to a mile away. The craziest part is that these incidents happen on a regular basis. No wonder the great majority of Iraqis want the occupation to end.
Just add the fines to that license fee Blackwater is paying you, Maliki, old boy.
Blackwater is English for Gestapo.
""If we drive out or expel this company immediately there will be a security vacuum that will demand pulling some troops that work in the field so that we can protect these institutes," he said. "This will create a security imbalance."
If the mercenaries whose job it is to shoot civilians are stripped of the license to kill, then the uniformed killers of civilians will have to protect the diplomats who make sure that the killing and torture of civilians is uninterrupted until the US companies can claim that their theft of the oil is lawful. And that would be a shame.
Mr. Maliki has got to know that the killers protecting him won't let him live past his usefulness.
A loud and resounding AMEN!
George C. Brown
Enough said - - no editing necessary!
the Tower of Babel
Run out these bastards. They are using the Iraqi civilians for target practice.
Has America no shame? There is no oil in this deal so why not pack up and go home - it is plain to see that the vast majority of Iraqis do not want meddling Uncle Sam in their country. Gordon Brown of the UK realized his army was quite unwelcome and did the right thing shortly after the poodle left office - reduced his troops drastically. Why cant dumb-dumb Bush see this also.
In a few years time, it will be interesting to see the fate of the sprawling embassy currently being built in Baghdad.
As you speak, Mr. Maliki, Blackwater is transferring its staff to its sister company, Pinkwater.
This way the Bush Administration and the GOP can keep the troop levels the same by privatizing more of them. Bush says he needs to increase the war budget to 200 billion next year.
The good news; Hillary has decided no more money without a troop withdrawal plan; so I'm guessing that has now become politically feasible.
Get your hugs ready for those troops!
Tsk, tsk. Naughty boy. Mommy Condi is going to give you such a spanking.