BAGHDAD — American officials scrambled to head off a potential crisis Monday after irate Iraqi authorities canceled the license of the controversial American security firm Blackwater USA, whose guards were accused of shooting to death eight civilians while protecting a U.S. State Department motorcade.
The swift response to Sunday's deaths marked Iraq's boldest step to assert itself against foreign security contractors who have long been accused of racing through Baghdad's streets and firing without restraint at anyone they see as a threat. It also cast a focus on the continued lack of control by American officials over heavily armed private security contractors, at least 20,000 of whom supplement the U.S.-led military forces that invaded Iraq in March 2003.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday, September 20, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 53 words Type of Material: Correction
Blackwater: A photo caption with an article in Wednesday's Section A about Blackwater USA security contractors in Iraq said that the daughter of Shakir Ismael, shown holding her picture, was among eight Iraqi civilians reportedly killed Sunday by Blackwater guards. The woman, Suhad Shakir, was killed in February, allegedly by foreign security contractors.
The ouster of all Blackwater guards here could severely cripple security arrangements for U.S. diplomats and other workers who rely on private guards to protect them on the violent streets of Iraq.
But several contractors predicted Monday that it was unlikely the Iraqi government would carry through with the threat to expel Blackwater.
"For all intents and purposes they belong to the [U.S.] Department of State," one contractor said of Blackwater employees, who have themselves often been the victims of violence, including the gruesome 2004 incident in Fallouja when four guards were killed and mutilated.
While many details of Sunday's incident remained in dispute, the gravity of the situation was apparent in the reaction of top-level officials in Washington and Baghdad.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice phoned Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki on Monday night to express regret over the shootings involving the North Carolina-based company that provides most of the security for U.S. Embassy personnel traveling in Iraq.
An embassy spokeswoman stressed that officials wanted to get to the bottom of the incident. "We take this very seriously and we are launching a full investigation in cooperation with the Iraqi authorities," spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo said.
Iraq's national security advisor, Mowaffak Rubaie, said the Iraqi government should use the incident to look into overhauling private security guards' immunity from Iraqi courts, which was granted by Coalition Provisional Authority administrator L. Paul Bremer III in 2003 and later extended ahead of Iraq's return to sovereignty.
