BAGHDAD — An Iraqi official conceded Sunday that expelling a private U.S. firm accused in the deaths of at least 11 Iraqi civilians would leave a "security vacuum" and said the two countries would look at ways to better regulate companies that protect Western personnel and facilities in Iraq.
A joint U.S.-Iraqi commission was expected to hold its first meeting within days, the American Embassy said.
Prime Minister Nouri Maliki demanded Wednesday that the embassy find a replacement for Blackwater USA and that the North Carolina-based company's activities in Iraq be frozen after Blackwater guards were involved in the lethal shooting Sept. 16 in Baghdad. U.S. officials asked him to wait for the results of a joint investigation.
A spokesman for Iraqi security efforts in the capital acknowledged Sunday that Blackwater was one of the main companies protecting foreign embassies and said it was not feasible to expel the firm, which has about 1,000 employees in Iraq.
"If we drive out this company immediately, there will be a security vacuum that would force us to pull troops out of the field to protect these institutes," Tahseen Sheikhly said. "That would cause a big imbalance in the security situation."
Blackwater guards were back on the streets on a limited basis after the embassy eased a ban Friday on road travel by diplomatic employees outside the fortified Green Zone.
Security contractors, a growing presence on the world's battlefields, perform functions that military personnel cannot or will not handle. In Iraq, scores of local and international companies protect Iraqi officials, foreign diplomats, humanitarian workers, journalists and others. They also guard embassies, reconstruction projects, military bases and supply convoys.
Iraqi officials, angered by what they described as an aggressive disregard for Iraqi lives, have long accused the companies of being a law unto themselves. A directive issued by U.S. occupation authorities in 2004 granted foreign security contractors immunity from prosecution in Iraq, though cases can be brought under certain circumstances in a U.S. court. Sheikhly said Iraqi courts should be able to try any crime committed on Iraqi soil.
The Blackwater shooting has further strained U.S.-Iraqi relations, which were already frayed by Washington's frustration over the slow pace of Iraqi political reconciliation. Maliki is expected to discuss the shooting with President Bush on the sidelines of U.N. General Assembly meetings this week.
