Baghdad, Iraq – The U.S. Embassy ordered civilian government employees to remain inside the heavily protected Green Zone indefinitely as American and Iraqi officials debated the legal status of foreign security contractors after a weekend shooting incident here in which eight civilians were reported killed.
The Iraqi government announced Tuesday that its initial investigation determined that Blackwater USA guards fired without provocation on Iraqi civilians at a Baghdad traffic circle Sunday. The account contradicted statements by the North Carolina-based security company and the U.S. State Department that the guards had come under small-arms fire.
Iraqi authorities said they would move to overhaul the nation’s laws to end the immunity of foreign contractors from prosecution in Iraqi courts, a procedure set by occupation officials after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
The confrontation could prove a test of the sovereign powers of the Iraqi government when it clashes with American officials over subjects such as its dependence on private security contractors, whom many Iraqis loathe after repeated episodes of wild shooting, reckless driving and abusive behavior.
Iraqi government spokesman Ali Dabbagh insisted Tuesday that Blackwater guards should be held accountable for Sunday’s killings, which took place while the security detail was assigned to protect a State Department motorcade.
“They should not have immunity for their mistakes,” Dabbagh said. “If they have made a mistake, they should be subjected to the law.”
With Iraqi public opinion inflamed by the deaths, including that of a young child, the U.S. Embassy issued a brief statement late Tuesday declaring the ban on civilian employees leaving the Green Zone.
Several American diplomats described the freeze, even if it proved short-lived, as a blow to the embassy’s work in Iraq.
“People have to get out. There is no point of having a diplomatic mission in a country if you don’t get out,” one U.S. diplomat said.
The freeze on travel came despite recent American military statements that attacks in Iraq were down as result of the seven-month buildup of U.S. troops.
U.S. officials said they were talking with the Iraqi government about what rules should henceforth guide the operations of contractors, but that the talks were preliminary and that it would be difficult to untangle the issues.
Iraqi spokesman Dabbagh said a preliminary report showed Blackwater guards “used superior firepower unnecessarily.” The convoy fired recklessly when a couple’s car failed to come to a stop at the Nisoor roundabout in western Baghdad’s Mansur district, he said.
“The car was slowing down but not stopping. They suspected them and shot and killed the couple and their small child,” Dabbagh said.
Support helicopters joined the convoy in raking fire on the traffic circle, he said. At least five others died in the shooting, according to Iraqi authorities.
Asked whether the U.S. government would hand over an American citizen to Iraqi authorities for questioning, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington that it would depend on the results of an American investigation.
