Iraqi law would end U.S. firms’ legal immunity

09/25/2007

By Alexandra Zavis,
Los Angeles Times
September 25, 2007


BAGHDAD -- A draft law that would strip local and foreign security companies of their immunity from prosecution in Iraq has been submitted to a state committee for legal vetting after a deadly shooting involving the firm that protects the U.S. Embassy and its staff, an Iraqi official said today.

The Interior Ministry, which announced the initiative, has been pressing for aggressive action to rein in firms such as Blackwater USA, whose guards were implicated in the deaths of at least 11 Iraqis on Sept. 16. The North Carolina-based company has said its guards were ambushed and responded appropriately to defend the U.S. convoy they were escorting through Baghdad.

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, who initially demanded that the embassy replace Blackwater, has since agreed to wait for the recommendations of a U.S.-Iraqi commission before acting.

Frustration has been building over the tactics of some companies, including Blackwater, whose employees have been accused in at least six other incidents in which Iraqis were injured or killed.

A directive issued by U.S. occupation authorities in 2004 granted foreign contractors immunity from prosecution in Iraq. The legislation advocated by the Interior Ministry would revoke that protection, Brig. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf told a news conference today.

"These firms will be under the grip of Iraqi law . . . and will be punished decisively for every breach," said Khalaf, a spokesman for the ministry.

If approved by the State Shura Council, which vets the legal language of draft bills, the measure would still require the approval of the Cabinet and parliament to become law.

In other developments, a suicide car bomber struck a police station in the southern city of Basra, killing at least three officers and wounding more than 20 people, police and hospital officials said.

Such attacks are rare in the mostly Shiite Muslim city. But security concerns have mounted since British forces withdrew from the oil hub to an air base on its outskirts.

Two car bombs detonated near an east Baghdad bank where retired civil servants collect their pensions, killing at least two people and injuring 12, police said.

U.S.-led forces captured an Iraqi suspect and detained six others during operations in Baghdad targeting militants believed to be transporting weapons with the backing of the elite Al Quds force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, the military said.