Plainclothes contractors working for Blackwater USA take part in a firefight as Iraqi demonstrators loyal to Muqtada Al Sadr attempt to advance on a facility being defended by U.S. and Spanish soldiers, Sunday, April 4, 2004 in the Iraqi city of Najaf. (AP / Gervasio Sanchez)
The Iraqi government accused Blackwater USA guards on Sunday of “deliberately killing” 17 Iraqi civilians who were gunned down in Baghdad’s main square last month.
Spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told Reuters that an investigative committee set up by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki found “no evidence that the Blackwater convoy came under any direct or indirect fire, or that it was even hit by stones.”
Blackwater contends its employees came under fire from threatening targets while escorting a U.S. convoy through Baghdad, prompting guards to open fire in the capital on Sept. 16.
Dabbagh said Blackwater guards had “violated rules governing the use of force” and should be held legally responsible for the incident.
The Iraqi government put the official death toll at 17, up considerably from the 11 deaths previously attributed to the incident.
A joint U.S.-Iraqi commission reviewing the work of private security firms met for the first time on Sunday and expressed its commitment to, “work together to evaluate issues of safety and security related to personal security detail operations in Iraq,” an embassy statement read.
The two sides are charged with issuing a report to both governments that will make recommendations “ensuring that personal security detail operations do not endanger public safety.”
Iraq’s cabinet vowed on Sunday it would review the commission’s recommendations and “take the legal steps to hold the company to account”, Dabbagh said. No date is confirmed for the release of the report.
The commission is comprised of five embassy representatives and eight Iraqi officials. Sunday’s meeting was chaired by Iraq’s defence minister Abdel Qader Mohammed Jassim and the American embassy’s second in command Patricia Butenis.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is expected to take over the investigation from the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security later this week.
Earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ordered a number of new guidelines designed to rein in members of the Blackwater security firm.
The recommendations include the installation of video cameras on armoured Blackwater vehicles and the use of federal agents to accompany Blackwater-escorted convoys. All radio transmissions between Blackwater and the embassy will also be recorded.
Last Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill making private security firms employed in global combat zones subject to prosecution in American courts.
Blackwater employs nearly 1,000 people in Iraq and is one of three private security firms employed in the volatile country by the State Department in Iraq. Since 2001, the firm has earned more than US$1 billion in federal contracts.
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