Blackwater security guards involved in a Baghdad shootout last month that left up to 17 Iraqi civilians dead were "obviously wrong," a senior US military official was reported as saying.
The unnamed official told the Washington Post newspaper that the US military reports from the scene of the September 16 incident suggested the US private security firm was to blame for the deaths, and that its employees in Iraq were trigger-happy.
"It was obviously excessive, it was obviously wrong," the official told the newspaper.
You know one of the problems with establishing a puppet government in Iraq is that sometimes they actually decide to hold the people responsible for murdering their citizens....responsible.
And that is exactly what the official Iraqi investigation has suggested: The official Iraqi investigation into last month's Blackwater shooting has been submitted to the government and recommends the security guards face trial in Iraqi courts, and that the company pay compensation to the victims, an Iraqi government minister told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The three-member panel, led by Defense Minister Abdul-Qader al-Obeidi, finished its work earlier this week and submitted the report and recommendations to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Tuesday, the government minister told AP on condition he not be identified by name.
So now let us see if the administration is willing to put their proverbial money where their proverbial mouth is. Will they allow this "sovereign" government to seek justice for its people?
If they don't it is just another lie that the Bush administration told the America and Iraqi people. Just throw it on the pile.
ahhhh to anzwer your question....no.
ReplyDeleteNobody seems to be analyzing the current Blackwater flap in terms of the power dynamics of the Bush Admin.-Maliki Admin. relationship. This wasn't the first instance of mercenary overkill since the occupation began -- just the first one the Maliki government has seen as presenting an opportunity.
ReplyDeleteThe Shiite politicians in control of the Baghdad government have won every round of their fight with Washington so far, and now they’re moving in to finish off their unworthy opponent.
What the Maliki government can say about Blackwater today it obviously can start saying about the U.S. military tomorrow. Any time he wants, Maliki can have the National Assembly on the brink of adopting resolutions demanding the immediate departure of all foreign forces and/or imposing unacceptable (to our free-firing forces, anyway) “rules of engagement” on any foreign forces remaining in Iraq.
Until recently, the Shiite powers-that-(thanks to us)-be have not been sure how soon they might want us to leave. Since the new SecDef gave our military more of a free hand to employ (locally) effective anti-insurgency tactics, and we thus began empowering Sunnis, Daawa, SCIRI & Co. have found that they may be able to dispense with our presence sooner rather than later.
Iraqis being Iraqis, the crisis will be a long, serpentine time coming. But Maliki is clearly holding all the cards.
One thing you can be sure of: Nuri won’t be bored by any more lectures from W or Condi about “benchmarks,” “reforms” or any such nonsense.