Iraq to Blackwater: Leave
Iraqis Order Blackwater out of Iraq – But Will It Leave?
Following a Baghdad shootout yesterday that left at least nine civilians dead, security-contractor giant Blackwater will no longer be permitted to operate in Iraq, according to the Iraqi Interior Ministry.
Yesterday’s incident involved an insurgent attack on a State Department convoy in the Sunni neighborhood of Mansour in western Baghdad. Blackwater personnel guarding the motorcade returned fire – “to defend themselves,” according to a State Department official quoted by The Washington Post. A Post reporter on the scene in Mansour witnessed Blackwater’s Little Bird helicopters “firing into the streets.” Almost immediately, an Interior Ministry spokesman said the company’s license to operate in Iraq would be revoked.
However, it’s unclear how the Interior Ministry would expel Blackwater. Unlike other private U.S. security firms in Iraq, as of May, Blackwater hadn’t registered with the Iraqi government to operate in Iraq. The Coalition Provisional Authority – the now-defunct occupational government – issued a decree in 2004 (pdf) immunizing security contractors from Iraqi prosecution and placing their operations under the jurisdiction of U.S. authorities.</em>
Oh silly Iraqis. Still thinking its your country to rule, your oil to sell. How many of you people are we going to have to kill before you get with the program?
How many would have to be killed here for a similar message to resonate?
