NYT : Iraqi Cabinet Votes to End Security Firms’ Immunity

Iraqi Cabinet Votes to End Security Firms’ Immunity

By ALISSA J. RUBIN | October 31, 2007

BAGHDAD, Oct. 30 — Draft legislation that lifts immunity for foreign private security companies gained the consent of the Iraqi cabinet on Tuesday and sent to Parliament for approval, a government spokesman said.

The measure would end a provision that protects the security companies from prosecution, which has been in effect since 2004, when the Americans handed sovereignty back to Iraq.

The provision has long rankled Iraqis, who say the private guards have used excessive force on a number of occasions, wounding or killing civilians. It became a major point of contention between the American and Iraqi governments after a Sept. 16 shooting by guards working for Blackwater that Iraqi investigators have said left 17 Iraqis dead and at least 24 wounded.

The Iraqi government’s decision followed reports that the State Department had promised Blackwater guards immunity from prosecution in its investigation of the shootings. On Tuesday, the State Department confirmed that some Blackwater employees questioned in connection with the shootings had been granted a form of immunity in exchange for their statements.

The draft law canceling the private security firms’ immunity was written by the legal adviser to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. It would overturn a measure known as Order 17, dating from the administration of L. Paul Bremer III.

Under the version approved by the cabinet, foreign security companies would have to meet several criteria, including a requirement that all their weapons be licensed by the Iraqi Interior Ministry. Their equipment, including helicopters and armored vehicles, would have to be registered with the appropriate Iraqi agencies and all foreign employees would have to obtain visas from the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.

Currently, many contractors in Iraq, including those who work for security firms, enter the country without regular visas because they have badges that say they work with the Defense Department or another agency either of the United States or of a country in the American-led coalition. The Iraqi government previously accepted the badges rather than requiring visas.

“This decision does not just cover Blackwater; it will cover all the foreign security firms operating in Iraq,” said Thamir Ghadban, the chairman of Mr. Maliki’s council of advisers. “This law will protect Iraqis and Iraq’s sovereignty.”

Although the Iraqi government now appears to be serious about changing the law, it remains unclear why it took so long, given the public anger over the contractors’ status. Mr. Bremer’s order states that Iraqi law is paramount, meaning that the government may change a law whenever it chooses.

A spokeswoman for the American Embassy, Mirembe Nantongo, said diplomats had just received the draft law and were reviewing it.

The cabinet’s approval is the first step in the legislative process. Parliament is likely to amend the measure, but, according to a Shiite member of Parliament, only to make it tougher and more restrictive.

“The Iraqi Parliament is enthusiastic about controlling these companies and will not allow them to have a free hand, especially after the massacre of Nisour Square,” said Jalaluddin al-Sagheer, the member of Parliament who is from the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, one of the country’s most influential Shiite parties. He was referring to the square in Baghdad where the Sept. 16 shootings took place.

“Order 17 gave complete immunity and we can no longer deal with the security firms in this way,” he added. “The cabinet’s version is just the first step in the discussion of how the law should be written, and the security and defense committee of the Parliament will decide which provisions should be added and which ones removed.”

Three American soldiers were killed Tuesday when their patrol hit a roadside bomb southeast of Baghdad, the military said. Their deaths brought the number of American troops killed in October to 36, the second lowest number of deaths in a month since October 2005, according to icasualties.org, a Web site that tracks American deaths in Iraq.

Because there is one more day in the month it is possible that the number will rise, though it is still likely to be among the lowest in the last two years.

In Samarra, a city about 90 miles north of Baghdad in the largely Sunni Arab province of Salahuddin, militants attacked a building used by Iraqi and American security forces. The American military brought in air support in response to the attack, according to a member of the Salahuddin police.

Later Tuesday, a car bomb exploded at a joint Iraqi Army and police checkpoint west of Samarra, killing four policemen and wounding eight.

An Iraqi employee of The New York Times contributed reporting from Salahuddin Province.