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Iraq not renewing Blackwater operating license

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman major general Abdel Karim Khalaf said Thursday that the country would not renew a contract allowing Blackwater Worldwide private security forces to operate within the country. Under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which became effective this month and was signed by the US and Iraq in December, the country has full autonomy to decide which private security forces may operate there. Khalaf said his government had made the decision because of the alleged killing of 17 Iraqi civilians by Blackwater contractors in September 2007. A date for the company's guards to leave the country has not been set, but a spokesperson for the US Embassy to Iraq has said they have been aware of the decision, and are planning to arrange for alternative protection for US diplomats in Iraq. Earlier this month, five Blackwater guards, indicted  in US federal court for the killings, pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and weapons charges. A sixth guard pleaded guilty to charges of voluntary manslaughter and attempt to commit manslaughter for his role in the same incident. In November, a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation into the incident concluded that the shootings were unjustified. In December, Bush administration officials announced that Iraq security contractors would be losing immunity  from Iraqi law under the SOFA with Iraq.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on January 29, 2009 (boomark / email).