Report: Iraqis seek $136 million for Blackwater victims, handover of those involved, and end of contract within 6 months

Iraqi authorities want the U.S. government to sever all contracts in Iraq with Blackwater USA within six months and pay $8 million (€5.7 million) in compensation to each of the families of 17 people killed when the firm's guards sprayed a traffic circle with heavy machine gun fire last month.

The demands — part of an Iraqi government report examined by The Associated Press — also called on U.S. authorities to hand over the Blackwater security agents involved in the Sept. 16 shootings to face possible trial in Iraqi courts.

The tone of the Iraqi report appears to signal further strains between the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the White House over the deaths in Nisoor Square — which have prompted a series of U.S. and Iraqi probes and raised questions over the use of private security contractors to guard U.S. diplomats and other officials...

It said the compensation — totaling $136 million (€96.5 million) — was so high "because Blackwater uses employees who disrespect the rights of Iraqi citizens even though they are guests in this country."

Read the rest at the International Herald Tribune

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