Iraqi Government Decides To Annul Immunity For Blackwater And Others
Baghdad, Oct 24, (VOI) - The Iraqi government decided to annul the immunity awarded to foreign security firms working in Iraq on the grounds of the Nosoor square incident where U.S. Blackwater security guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians.
“The cabinet decided on Tuesday’s session to annul the immunity given to the foreign security firms working in Iraq,” a statement issued by the Iraqi government spokesman Dr. Ali al-Dabbagh said on Wednesday.
The statement added “a new draft resolution to that effect will be submitted to the cabinet’s next session.”
Last month, personnel from the private American security company killed 17 Iraqi civilians and wounded 12 more in al-Nosoor square, western Baghdad.
An ensuing investigation by the Iraqi government showed that the security guards had not come under threat, as the security men claimed, when they fired on civilians, accusing Blackwater’s guards of “deliberate killing.”
The incident drew extreme indignation on the Iraqi streets as the Iraqi parliament called to restrict the work of private security companies in Iraq and to amend a decision by the former U.S. civil administrator of Iraq Paul Bremer that grants these firms legal immunity.
Blackwater is a private military company and security firm founded in 1997 by Erik Prince and Al Clark. It is based in the U.S. state of North Carolina, where it operates a tactical training facility that it claims to be the world’s largest.
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