Iraq to bar Blackwater over ‘excessive use of force’

IRAQ said yesterday it will bar Blackwater Worldwide from providing security protection for US diplomats because its contractors used excessive force, sanctioning a company whose image was irrevocably tarnished by the 2007 killings of 17 Iraqi civilians.

The move will deprive American diplomats of their main protection force in Iraq.

The decision not to issue Blackwater an operating licence was due to “improper conduct and excessive use of force,” said Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Abdul-Karim Khalaf.

Iraqis are bitter over the September 2007 killing of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square. Five former Blackwater guards pleaded not guilty on January 6 in federal court in Washington to manslaughter and gun charges in that shooting. A sixth is co-operating with the government.

The Iraqi government has labelled the guards criminals and is closely watching the case.

Even before the shooting, Blackwater had a reputation for aggressive operations and using excessive force in protecting American officials, an allegation the firm disputed.

Neither Khalaf nor a US Embassy official gave a date for Blackwater personnel to leave the country, and neither said whether they would be allowed to continue guarding US diplomats during the interim.

Anne Tyrrell, a spokeswoman for the North Carolina-based company, said it had not yet been notified of the Iraqi decision.

The Iraq decision came just months after a US-Iraqi security agreement gave the government the authority to determine which Western security companies operate in Iraq.

A joint US-Iraqi committee is drawing up procedures for licensing and regulating security companies under the security agreement and it is unclear when it will finish the process.

“We have followed the procedures to apply for and secure operating licences in Iraq,” said Tyrrell, the Blackwater spokeswoman.

The State Department relies heavily on Blackwater because it is the largest and best-equipped security company in Iraq.

The US extended Blackwater’s contract for a year last spring, despite widespread calls for the company to be expelled because of the Nisoor Square shooting.

But the company has become a lightning rod for Iraqi complaints about the behaviour of Western security companies, whose employees were immune from prosecution under Iraqi law until this month.

In the September 16, 2007 shooting Blackwater maintains its guards opened fire after coming under attack after a car in a State Department convoy broke down.