CBS: Blackwater notified ‘all immunities shall be cancelled’

An exclusive CBS report says that all private security firms in Iraq have been notified that “immunity from Iraqi law is about to end.” The Iraqi interior ministry sent a letter to security contractors explaining that a soon to be ratified Iraq law will remove legal immunities, originally granted by former Coalition Provisional Authority head L. Paul Bremer in 2004.

One contractor, distrustful of the Iraqi police, told CBS, “There’s no question it’s a disaster if this got passed.” American officials expect that the law will not be ratified.

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Blackwater won’t allow arrests

The Iraqi justice system was good enough for Sadam but not for Blackwater’s “Guys”? 

“We will not let our people be taken by the Iraqis,” said Erik Prince, CEO and chairman of Blackwater USA.

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A defiant Blackwater Chairman Erik Prince said yesterday he will not allow Iraqi authorities to arrest his contractors and try them in Iraq’s faulty justice system.
“We will not let our people be taken by the Iraqis,” Mr. Prince told editors and reporters at The Washington Times. At least 17 of 20 Blackwater guards being investigated for their roles in a Sept. 16 shooting incident are still in a secure compound in Baghdad’s Green Zone and carrying out limited duties.

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