Blackwater stays despite Massacre

[TriWooOx]

The US has renewed its contract with Blackwater Company despite fact that the security contractor is blamed for committing massacre in Iraq.

The company's guards in an 'unprovoked' attack shot dead 17 Iraqi civilians while escorting an American diplomat through Baghdad in September 2007. The fatal incident enraged the Iraqi nation.

Not only the security contractor is not expected to face charges for the cold-blooded murders, it is awarded a renewal of contract by the US State Department to protect US diplomats in Iraq for another year.

The company's contract was set to expire on May 7, 2008.

Enraged by the killing, the Iraqi government sought to expel the company from Iraq. It also threatened to strip Western contractors of their immunity from Iraqi law, but the threats fell on deaf ears.

Washington attempted to brush the demands aside but was later forced to order an investigation into the killings. However, in the US no charges were brought up against any of the Blackwater guards in the September shooting.

Foreign security companies are currently not subject to Iraq law, but at the same time are not governed by US military tribunals, allowing them to operate without regard to any repercussions.

"We cannot operate without private security firms in Iraq," under secretary of state for management Patrick F. Kennedy said. "If the contractors were removed, we would have to leave Iraq."

Early in April, the Iraqi prime minister condemned the renewing of a US contract with Blackwater, saying the security firm had committed a 'massacre'.

"They committed a massacre against Iraqis and until now this issue has not been resolved. No judicial action has been taken, no compensation has been made," Nuri al-Maliki said.  

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=55 ... =351020201