Blackwater unprovoked - Iraqi probe

[spotbird]

Source: Forbes

BAGHDAD (Thomson Financial) - US security contractor Blackwater was unprovoked when it opened fire on civilians in Baghdad three weeks ago, killing 17 people and wounding 22, an Iraqi probe into the shooting has found.

The Iraqi government would now take 'judicial measures to punish the company,' government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement.

'The investigation committee appointed by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ... has finished its inquiry and has found that there was no evidence that the convoy of Blackwater came under fire directly or indirectly,' he said.

Read more: http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2007/10/07/afx4194709.html

---

Why in the world would al-Maliki think he has authority over Blackwater?

[Fridays Child]

1. Maliki wants something and this is a bargaining chip. State has already played their hand.

Condi has proved how important Blackwater is by working so furiously to keep the company in place. Now, Maliki has leverage.

Am I too tinfoily and cynical?

[EST]

2. Not too cynical, at all.

This should also prepare everybody for the coming fight as the anti-blackwater tide rises here in the US. Their obvious importance means all of nutlery will be talking about the Soros-funded anti-blackwater sentiment.+++

[Acadia Blue]

8. I am so against private mafia armies. Our ethical military should

be doing the job. They are the ones with accountability and ethics training.

[Thor_MN]

3. Maybe not quite standing up yet, but they are leaning forward out of the chair...

Hopefully, it's not to just break wind...

[sarcasmo]

4. For those that don't know.

Blackwater money equals hardcore Reich winger Dick Devos money.

[Purveyor]

5. Iraqi Inquiry Says Blackwater Shooting Was Unprovoked

Source: New York Times

BAGHDAD, Oct. 7 — A completed Iraqi government inquiry found that employees of the American security company Blackwater USA shot unprovoked at Iraqi civilians at a downtown traffic circle three weeks ago, an episode that killed 17 people and wounded more than 20 others, a government spokesman said Sunday.

The four-vehicle Blackwater convoy, which had stopped at Nisoor Square on Sept. 16 to seal off traffic for another convoy carrying State Department officials, “wasn’t even hit by a stone,” much less hostile gunfire when Blackwater guards began shooting at unarmed civilians, government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, said.

Also Sunday, a joint commission of American and Iraqi senior officials convened here for the first time to look into ways to improve interactions between armed contractors and Iraqis they encounter in the course of transporting American diplomats. One of the main goals of the meeting, between Patricia A. Butenis, the embassy’s deputy chief of mission, and the Iraqi defense minister, Abdulqadir Mohammed Jassim, was to improve procedures to avoid the use of deadly force, and to ensure contractors “do not endanger public safety,” a statement from the American Embassy said.

The meeting occurred on a day in which a series of car bomb attacks in the capital killed at least nine people, apparently all civilians, officials said. One of the bombings occurred near the Iranian embassy and killed three people, Iraqi officials said.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/world/middleeast/07cnd-iraq.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

[yardwork]

6. Don't you mean, why in the world would al-Maliki think he has any rights at all?

I mean, he's just supposedly the freely elected president of our shining example of democracy on the hill, right? It's not like he gets to decide what happens in his country or anything. /sarcasm

It's put up or shut up time for those who keep claiming that the United States has created a democracy in Iraq.

[Supersedeas]

7. Condi's cameras will catch the provocation next time -- prerecorded?

[TheLastMohican]

9. Does that mean

we are about to be treated to more scenes of charred remains of BW mercenaries hanging from the bridge?