Maliki: Blackwater Violence "Unacceptable"

Says Shootings By Private Security Firms Protected By U.S. Challenge Iraq's Sovereignty

(CBS/AP)  Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Sunday the shooting deaths of Iraqi civilians - allegedly at the hands of private Blackwater USA security guards - pose "a serious challenge to the sovereignty of Iraq" and cannot be accepted.

The Sept. 16 killing of at least 11 civilians near a square in central Baghdad has highlighted the practices of foreign security contractors whose aggressive protection of Western diplomats and other dignitaries has long angered Iraqis.

U.S.-Iraqi relations have been further strained by the U.S. detention of an Iranian on Thursday in northern Iraq who was accused by the U.S. military of smuggling weapons to Shiite militias for use against American troops.

Al-Maliki, in an interview with The Associated Press ahead of his appearance Monday at the U.N. General Assembly, condemned the detention and 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," he said. "We consider the arrest ... of this individual who holds an Iraqi visa and a (valid) passport to be unacceptable."

Meanwhile, an Iraqi official conceded Sunday that Blackwater USA's exit would create a "security vacuum" in Baghdad and said the U.S. and Iraq were instead working on revamping regulations governing private security companies after a deadly shooting of civilians.

Following the Sept. 16 Nisoor Square shooting, the Interior Ministry banned Blackwater from operating in Iraq, but rolled back after the U.S. agreed to a joint investigation. The company resumed guarding a reduced number of U.S. convoys on Friday.

But officials said new rules have to be put in place to govern the behavior of the security companies.

"If we expel this company immediately there will be a security vacuum that will demand pulling some troops off the battlefield," Tahseen Sheikhly, a civilian spokesman for the seven-month-old offensive against militants in Baghdad and surrounding areas. "This will create a security imbalance in securing Baghdad."

The Iraqi Interior Ministry complained that U.S. authorities had ignored repeated complaints about past Blackwater behavior as the company was implicated in six other fatal shootings, including one on Feb. 7 outside Iraqi state television in Baghdad that killed three building guards.

"We tried several times to contact the U.S. government through administrative and diplomatic channels to complain about the repeated involvement by Blackwater guards in several incidents that led to the killing of many Iraqis, but there were no concrete results. Our complaints went nowhere," deputy Interior Minister Hussein Kamal said.

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo said the Americans asked the Iraqis to share any reports on Blackwater's behavior.

"We have no official documentation on file from our Iraqi partners requesting clarification of any incident, but we're open to sharing relevant findings from our past investigations," she said. "We are approaching this in the spirit of cooperation and we have a joint interest in coming to a productive conclusion."

The U.S. administration is scrambling to quell Iraqi anger over the Sept. 16 shooting, in which Blackwater guards protecting a State Department convoy allegedly opened fire on Iraqis. Blackwater says its contractors were responding to an armed attack. Iraqi officials and witnesses say the shooting was unprovoked, although they have offered conflicting details.

Blackwater is one of three private security firms employed by the State Department to protect its personnel in Iraq, and a decision to force it to pull out would create tremendous difficulties for the U.S. government.

But Kamal called its behavior "unacceptable and a humiliation to Iraq."

A joint U.S.-Iraqi commission is being formed to investigate the incident and examine the rules governing private security companies that have largely operated without oversight since the war began in March 2003.

Nantongo, the embassy spokeswoman, said the panel would have eight members on each side, including three from the U.S. military and five embassy officers, but the commission has yet to meet.

It is doubtful that foreign security contractors could be prosecuted under Iraqi law. A directive issued by U.S. occupation authorities in 2004 granted contractors, American troops and many other foreign officials immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law. Security contractors also are not subject to U.S. military law under which U.S. troopers face prosecution for killing or abusing Iraqis.

Iraqi officials have said in the wake of the Nisoor Square shooting that they will press for amendments to the 2004 directive.

"Iraqi criminal law should be activated on Iraqi soil against any kind of criminal activity," Sheikhly said.

GW Bush had to scramble for another excuse for his illegal invasion of Iraq when the WMD''s didn''t turn up.

His excuse was that Iraq needed to be saved from Saddam Hussein.

But thanks to GW Bush and his pathetic fake christian Republican supporters, our tax dollars are being spent so that morally bankrupt mercenaries like Blackwater can kill innocent Iraqi men, women and children.

Bush claimed to have saved Iraq from Saddam - but who is going to save Iraq from Bush?

sbbm wrote:

"Yeah, well, your country training Saudi''''s to come and kill 3000+ American civilains/firefighters with airplanes is unacceptable as well...maybe if you hadn''''t done this, we wouldn''''t be where we are today."

Are you a complete and utter fu_khead? What proof do you have that Iraq trained the 9/11 hijackers?

None - because it didn''t happen, despite your pathetic little fantasies.

You right wing nazis are complete and utter tools of neo-con lies.

Even your hero GW Bush has had to admit that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.

If you want to nail someone for 9/11, nail the Saudis like we should have done after 9/11 - well, except of course GW Bush and his insane and morally corrupt family are in bed with the Saudis.

A vote for a Republican is a vote for the Saudis.

And thanks to GW Bush, his family and the Carlyle group - the Saudis already control America.

You Republicans have sold America to them.

[seven-pesos]

the republican party loves the south...

southerners are so easy to fool.

a little flag waving here, a little bible thumping there.

those ignorant southerners fall right in line, boy!

rednecks and reborns...

bush''s kind of people.

war, hate, arrogance, christian creeps, republican snakes...

nothing good comes out of the south!

[sgtrds]

ignore - don''''t converse - don''''t respond - to anything from : sbbm

Posted by lastdance2 at 09:41 PM : Sep 23, 2007

I agree. I made the mistake of trying to give sbbm the benefit of the doubt and giving an honest response to a question. Now however it''s obvious that sbbm is really didntinhale or one of its many incarnations in this blog and is only looking to spout the RNC line. Ignore it. It''s not a serious poster and it doesn''t deserve response.

[searingtruth]

"It is the entire circumstance that concerns me, not the small window which peers in upon it."
SearingTruth

"Which morality shall we claim?
That of magnanimous oppressor and murderer in substitute of heartless oppression and murder?"
SearingTruth

"And so death begat death, and suffering begat suffering, until all had been consumed, and all cause lost."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com

[jonny_chaos]

it may be stereotyping actually. liberal - conservative, nothing but lables to make it easy to identify and unneccessary to consider the point being made. but just spewing hate and garbage dosent further any agenda or help bring the country back together. were all americans so deal with it. we think differently and thats what makes it a great place.

[jonny_chaos]

Iraq is not your normal War zone! The enemy doesn''''t fight by the Geneva Convention or any convention at all, doesn''''t fight by any rules.
Posted by tbweb

actually, that makes it a totally normal war zone. the convention they fight under is, win, by any means neccessary. any country occupied will fight as long as possible. just common sense. can you really blame them for being irritated were running around their country?

blackwater operate in the typical ignorant arrogant method of those above the law. if iraq (lol) had occupied my country, i''d be taking pot shots at their soldiers and contractors as well. its just the way its done.

jesus and company were constantly carping about rome. washington and company were carping about england, french were irritated with the nazis, and so it goes.

[jonny_chaos]

being profiled is a chance you take when you post on a public forum. dont want to own it, dont say it.

sure, i profiled seven-pesos. repetitive, with nothing to say.

[jonny_chaos]

i think seven-pesos had his wife stolen by a southerner.

Dude, New Mexico? shut up. loser.

Oh, yea, by the way, i''m from the west coast, in the south, close enough to hell to smell the sulpher, but still just another place and another state of mind. ever consider spewing lame pasted copy over and over just makes you seem like an angry little loser. you and lars need to look into megaDik. might make you more secure around rednecks.

[toldyouso21]

Earth to Al Maliki: IRAQ IS NOT SOVEREIGN. If you were sovereign, you would not be occupied.

If you were sovereign, Bush, Rice, Cheney, Rumsfeld and others could not just "drop" in to check on you--they''s have to ask to go to Iraq and wait for permission.

If you were sovereign, your paychecks would not come from the United States of America

If you were sovereign, you could do what your citizens want (and kick the US out) and not what the US wants.

If you were sovereign, then when you wanted to grant immunity to the insurgents and others for killing Americans, what our Congress said or wanted would not have mattered

If Iraq were sovereign, then part of the agenda to reconcile Iraq would not be to give oil exploration and development rights to the US and others for the next 30 years

If Iraq were sovereign, you would not ahve foreign mercenaries with immunity running around your country without permission.

Iraq is NOT sovereign and Al Maliki is only a puppet. We all know this--even Iraqi citizens know this. If they were sovereign, they would not be under occupation. There can be no democracy under occupation.

But there can be and often is a sham government put in place by conquerors to try to legitimize invasions.

[menofoz]

The US National Labs are a perfect example of throwing money at needless causes. Los Alamos National Lab has a staff of about 9,000 people, most of whom have absolutley nothing to do with the defense of America. There are Ph.D''''s all over the place creating useless models of hypothetical future events, mostly for salaries well above $100,000 per year. Los Alamos is now run by LANS, LLC, a private contractor that now skims $59 million per year from this epicenter of fraud, waste, and massive abuse of US tax $$$.



Posted by ConDumism at 11:07 PM : Sep 23, 2007

Gosh, don%u2019t you know Sir, how much Republicans hate government waste (rolling my eyes) and don%u2019t you know Sir, how much Right Wing Whack%u2019s hate hands out for the poor? Sir, I must say that sure is a mighty honest assessment you made about the where many of the GOP Bush base voters come from government lackeys 90% of them (Los Alamos National Lab has a staff of about 9,000 people, most of whom have absolutely nothing to do with the defense of America. There are PhD%u2019s all over the place creating useless models of hypothetical future events, mostly for salaries well above $100,000 per year.)

[condumism]

6/5/07: Fed Chairman and Republicon Bernanke said he believes some of the forces that figured in the slow growth of the US economy in the 1st quarter of 2007 were due to weak federal defense spending that "seemed likely to be at least partially reversed in the near term."

Here we are folks, smack in the middle of the US military industrial complex economy that is now the number one wheel behind the US economy. Our Fascist, paranoid Republicons fear machine continues to throw money at the needless US Military.

The US National Labs are a perfect example of throwing money at needless causes. Los Alamos National Lab has a staff of about 9,000 people, most of whom have absolutley nothing to do with the defense of America. There are Ph.D''s all over the place creating useless models of hypothetical future events, mostly for salaries well above $100,000 per year. Los Alamos is now run by LANS, LLC, a private contractor that now skims $59 million per year from this epicenter of fraud, waste, and massive abuse of US tax $$$.

WAKE UP AMERICA, YOU''RE BEING ROBBED EVERYDAY BY THE CORPORATE US MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX, WHO HAVE BOUGHT AND PAYED FOR EVERY RETHUGLICON in ELECTED OFFICE!

[lastdance2]

CBS NEWS
Explain this chronic and habitual Spam continually being
Posted by sbbm

what''''sa matter lastdance2? Too busy erasing your computer data to repsond??
_____

Copy and Paste : report Abuse Form
to every of the sbbm posts

[tbweb]

Iraq is not your normal War zone! The enemy doesn''t fight by the Geneva Convention or any convention at all, doesn''t fight by any rules. This enemy fights a dog-eat-dog War, wears explosives that can blow up U.S. personnel at any moment, drives vehicles full of explosives that can blow up any U.S. personnel at any moment, kills any and everything at random and fights among Iraqi civilians! This enemy killed those Iraqi civilians by shooting amongst them, using them for cover. Blackwater, the U.S. Military or any other Security Force is at a clear disadvantage trying to deal with this hostile, extremely violent and crazy War environment. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki should take a 5 week vacation like his government did and clear his head and get a grip. In this case I side with Blackwater. How can Blackwater be expected to play by the rules when no one knows what the rules of engagement are, when there are no rules. In my view Blackwater errors on the side of caution and in that case collateral damage is to be expected. Fair is fair! Complaint denied!!

[lastdance2]

sbbm - federal employee

fishing - simply a matter of gathering information - profiling -

ignore - don''t converse - don''t respond - to anything from : sbbm

Lastdance

[seven-pesos]

the republican party loves the south...

southerners are so easy to fool.

a little flag waving here, a little bible thumping there.

those ignorant southerners fall right in line, boy!

rednecks and reborns...

bush''s kind of people.

war, hate, arrogance, christian creeps, republican snakes...

nothing good comes out of the south!

[gkc99]

So Maliki doesn''t like Blackwater--so what, the puppet dances to the master''s strings, just like Bushit dances on the string for the billionaires and corporations who own and operate the USA these days.

[seven-pesos]

blackwater security, based in north carolina.

just another bunch of redneck southerners on the loose in the middle east.

bush and his slave state supporters got this whole world all screwed up.

bush, gonzalez, condisleezeball, foley, delay, rove...

all southern, all christian, all republican, all snakes...

white trash, redneck bush supporting creeps...

oh well, that''s the south for you, folks!

[sandycat2]

Iraq can''t tell the US and Blackwater to go home. If they do, there would be more killing then there already is. Al Maliki knows Blackwater is needed in Iraq which is why Blackwater employees are back at work already. Sad but true.

[vastr-wcon]

The DickNBush Gestapo, Blackwater, is now exposed. (Where has the MSM been on this for the past 4+ years? With their heads up their A**es again?) Seems there is no limit in DickNBush world to the number of people who are "above the law". Like DickNbush, these are a bunch of incompetent criminal thugs. The investigation of Blackwater needs to very broad and thorough - it will lead directly to the White House.