BAGHDAD — The Iraqi Cabinet approved draft legislation on Tuesday that would repeal a law granting immunity to foreign security firms working in Iraq.
The draft, which still requires the approval of parliament, is part of the Iraqi government’s response to a shooting last month involving guards from Blackwater USA, a North Carolina-based private security firm, that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead and 27 wounded.
Ali al-Dabbagh, a government spokesman, said the Cabinet unanimously approved the draft. Several important pieces of legislation have been stalled in parliament for months, but al-Dabbagh said he was certain legislators would approve a tough law on foreign security guards.
“There has been a lot of anger because of this Blackwater incident,” he said. “There was a bit of a sense of urgency.”
The measure would repeal a law known as Order 17 that was issued by Paul Bremer, who led the American occupation in Iraq until June 2004. The move by the Iraqi Cabinet follows reports this week that Blackwater guards were granted partial immunity during a State Department investigation into the Sept. 16 incident.
Iraq is demanding the right to launch its own prosecution of the Blackwater bodyguards despite the company’s insistence they acted in self-defense.
Al-Dabbagh said the new law would not apply retroactively, meaning that private security guards could not be prosecuted for crimes committed before the legislation is passed.
The Sept. 16 shootings in west Baghdad’s Nisoor Square left 17 Iraqi civilians dead and prompted still-unanswered questions about who fired first. Blackwater has said its convoy was already under attack before it opened fire.
A follow-up investigation by the Iraqi government concluded that Blackwater’s men were unprovoked. No witnesses have been found to contradict that finding.
An initial report by U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in Iraq, indicates “no enemy activity involved” in the incident. The report says Blackwater guards were traveling against the flow of traffic through a traffic circle when they “engaged five civilian vehicles with small-arms fire” at a distance of 50 meters.
In Washington, State Department officials noted Tuesday that limited immunity has been routinely offered to private security contractors involved in shootings in Iraq, and denied such actions jeopardized criminal prosecution of Blackwater USA guards accused of killing 17 Iraqi civilians.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack declined to discuss specifics of the agency’s role in the investigation, but said any immunity deals should not stop the Justice Department from prosecuting.
Senior law enforcement officials said the legal protections offered by the State Department could derail prosecution if investigators are unable to unearth other evidence from a crime scene now six weeks old.
Meanwhile, Pentagon and State Department officials have reached a general understanding that U.S. military commanders in Baghdad should have more oversight of the government’s private security contractors in Iraq and greater control over their movement, a Pentagon official said Tuesday.
The military also wants to have a better understanding about how the private guards are trained and assurance that they are all following the same rules for the use of deadly force, said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell.
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