State Department bans land travel outside of Green Zone; Iraq report blames Blackwater guards for deaths

Above: 'Security guards' employed by Blackwater prepare to launch from inside the 'green zone' in Baghdad.

U.S. bans diplomatic ground movements in Iraq outside protected Green Zone

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad suspended all diplomatic convoys Tuesday outside the heavily fortified Green Zone and the rest of Iraq after a weekend incident involving private security guards in which a number of Iraqi civilians were killed.

In a notice sent to Americans in Iraq, the embassy said it had acted to review the security of its personnel and possible increased threats to those leaving the Green Zone while accompanied by security details.

"In light of a serious security incident involving a U.S. embassy protective detail in the Mansour District of Baghdad, the embassy has suspended official US government civilian ground movements outside the International Zone (IZ) and throughout Iraq," the notice says.

"This suspension is in effect in order to assess mission security and procedures, as well as a possible increased threat to personnel traveling with security details outside the International Zone," said the notice, a copy of which was provided to The Associated Press by the State Department.

Read the rest at the International Herald Tribune

US halts diplomatic convoys from Iraq's Green Zone

The United States has barred diplomats and civilians from leaving Baghdad's heavily fortified "Green Zone" after a shooting involving the Blackwater security firm that drew protests from Iraq and prompted investigations, a U.S. official said on Tuesday.

Separately, the United States and Iraq plan to conduct a joint investigation of Sunday's incident involving Blackwater guards in which 11 people were shot dead, American officials said.

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad said the Blackwater guards were reacting to a car bomb that went off near an official convoy. According to other accounts, however, the Blackwater guards fired randomly after mortar rounds landed near their motorcade.

The Green Zone houses the U.S. Embassy as well as many Iraqi ministries and senior officials who are largely protected from the daily violence in other parts of the Iraqi capital.

Read the rest at Reuters/Alternet

Iraq PM criticises Blackwater, U.S. curbs travel

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki suggested on Wednesday the U.S. embassy stop using American security firm Blackwater after a deadly shooting and said he would not allow Iraqis to be killed in "cold blood".

Iraq has said it would review the status of all security firms after what it called a flagrant assault by Blackwater contractors in which 11 people were killed while the firm was escorting a U.S. embassy convoy through Baghdad on Sunday...

"We will not allow Iraqis to be killed in cold blood ... What happened was a crime. It has left a deep grudge and anger, both inside the government and among the Iraqi people," Maliki told a news conference.

"It is in (our) interests to freeze the work of this company and the embassy can travel with other companies."

Read the rest at Reuters/Alternet

Iraqi report says Blackwater guards fired first

A preliminary Iraqi report on a shooting involving an American diplomatic motorcade said Tuesday that Blackwater security guards were not ambushed, as the company reported, but instead fired at a car when it did not heed a policeman's call to stop, killing a couple and their infant.

The report, by the Ministry of Interior, was presented to the Iraqi cabinet and, though unverified, seemed to contradict an account offered by Blackwater USA that the guards were responding to gunfire by militants. The report said Blackwater helicopters had also fired. The Ministry of Defense said 20 Iraqis had been killed, a far higher number than had been reported before.

In a sign of the seriousness of the standoff, the American Embassy here suspended diplomatic missions outside the Green Zone and throughout Iraq on Tuesday.

"There was not shooting against the convoy," said Ali al-Dabbagh, the Iraqi government's spokesman. "There was no fire from anyone in the square."

Read the rest at the International Herald Tribune

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