Report: Blackwater exempted from U.S. military regulations governing other security firms; U.S. says firm still under contract

Left: A Blackwater 'Little Bird' flies next to a mosque in Baghdad.

Blackwater given little oversight

Blackwater USA, the private security company involved in a Baghdad shootout Sunday, operated under State Department authority that exempted the company from U.S. military regulations governing other security firms, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials and industry representatives...

Blackwater "has a client who will support them no matter what they do," said H.C. Lawrence Smith, deputy director of the Private Security Company Association of Iraq, an advocacy organization in Baghdad that is funded by security firms, including Blackwater.

The State Department allowed Blackwater's heavily armed teams to operate without an Interior Ministry license, even after the requirement became standard in Defense Department security contracts. The company was not subject to the military's restrictions on the use of offensive weapons, its procedures for reporting shootingss or a central tracking system that allows commanders to monitor the movements of security companies on the battlefield.

"The Iraqis despised them, because they were untouchable," said Matthew Degn, who recently returned from Baghdad after serving as senior American adviser to the Interior Ministry. "They were above the law."

Read the rest at the Star Telegram

US says Blackwater still under contract in Iraq

U.S. security firm Blackwater remains in Iraq under a State Department contract while a joint commission investigates a shooting incident in Baghdad on Sunday that left 11 Iraqis dead, the U.S. embassy said on Thursday.

Embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo said the personnel involved in the incident would not leave Iraq before the investigation yielded results.

"(Blackwater) are still here and still under contract from the State Department," she said. "Since they support chief personnel movement and we are not moving, there is no activity from Blackwater at the moment."

Nantongo said the joint Iraqi-U.S. commission would consist of eight members on each side. The U.S. mission's charge d'affairs would head the U.S. side whilst Iraq's defence minister would head the Iraqi side.

Read the rest at Reuters/Alternet

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