BAGHDAD, 19 September 2007 — Iraq will review the status of all security companies after this week’s “flagrant assault” by contractors from the US firm Blackwater in which 11 people were shot dead, the government said yesterday.
Government spokesman Ali Al-Dabbagh said the Cabinet backed an Interior Ministry decision to “halt the license” of Blackwater, which provides security for the US Embassy, and launch an immediate investigation into the shooting.
Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr, adding his voice to Iraqi anger over the incident, urged the government to “cancel this company’s work, and the rest of the criminal and intelligence companies” that employ tens of thousands of people across Iraq.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki on Monday to express regret over the death of innocent civilians, which the State Department said occurred during an attack on a US convoy.
Blackwater said its guards reacted “lawfully and appropriately” to a hostile attack. It said late on Monday it had received no official notice from Iraq’s Interior Ministry.
US officials in Baghdad have yet to clarify the legal status of foreign security contractors in Iraq, including whether they could be prosecuted by Iraqi authorities.
