A regulation known as Order 17, which was established under the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority headed by L. Paul Bremer and is still in effect, granted American private security contractors immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts.
As a result, we have incidents like this one:
A Blackwater employee was responsible for the shooting death of a bodyguard for one of Iraq’s vice presidents, Adel Abdul Mahdi, on Christmas Eve last year, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal in May. The Blackwater guard had been drinking heavily in the Green Zone, according to the report, and tried to enter an area where Iraqi officials live. The employee was fired, but left Iraq without being prosecuted, the report said.
And that's just one of many:
Before Sunday's shootings, Interior Ministry officials said they had received reports of at least a half-dozen incidents in which Blackwater guards allegedly shot civilians, far more than any other company. But the officials said they were hamstrung by the immunity granted under Order 17.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment