The Iraqi government said today it has revoked the license of Blackwater USA, a private security company that guards U.S. Embassy personnel in Iraq, following a shootout in downtown Baghdad on Sunday that left at least nine people dead...
The decision of the Iraqi government meant that Blackwater "cannot work in Iraq any longer, it will be illegal for them to work here."
No tears shed for "private security company" here, where Blackwater has had a black name for a long time.
According to the Washington Post, the refusal to renew Blackwater's license in Iraq will mean a confrontation between Baghdad and Washington. How much Washington will be defending its right to maintain privateers in Iraq and elsewhere, and how much it will be defending its own pockets -- already so full of lobbying bucks -- we probably won't know.
Meanwhile, it's a pleasure to watch the legendarily corrupt Iraq Interior Ministry admonish an offspring of the legendarily corrupt American Republican administration dealing with an administrative order laid down by its handmaiden, L. Paul Bremer.
It was not immediately clear whether Iraq or the United States holds the authority to regulate Blackwater's operations. A regulation known as Order 17 established under the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority headed by L. Paul Bremer effectively granted immunity to American private security contractors from being prosecuted in Iraqi courts.
Another CPA memorandum requires private security companies to register with the Interior Ministry, but some of the companies in Iraq operate without doing so.
Lawrence T. Peter, director of the Private Security Company Association of Iraq, said Blackwater was licensed by the Interior Ministry. But Blackwater acknowledged as recently as two months ago that a license it obtained in 2005 had lapsed, and the company was having trouble getting the license renewed.
"Many Iraqis have come to me and complained bitterly to me about CPA Order 17, I understand that," said Peter. "But the fact that you complain bitterly doesn't mean you can wave a magic wand and change it."
Of course, Congressional Democrats are in the business of searching for magic wands these days. Blackwater has been on their mind for quite a while. Jeremy Scahill, who's written at length about Blackwater, said in an interview:
I've interviewed several Congresspeople who've said they've tried for years to get detailed information on Blackwater's contracts and other war contractors' arrangements with the government and they've been stonewalled.. The fact of the matter is that Blackwater has repeatedly refused to hand over documents requested by Congress! What's ironic is that when Blackwater refuses to hand over these documents, they say that they're classified! The irony of telling Henry Waxman, chair of the Government Oversight Committee, that they can't give him a document because it's classified is stark. I'm a journalist and you know that you're fighting to get documents all the time from the government. But when Congress can't get them, that should raise major red flags for people in this country as to what exactly these companies are doing with our money and in our names.
Update: Henry Waxman is gearing up for an investigation of Blackwater. And coming soon to this blog, a report on what Blackwater looks like from inside Baghdad. Not pretty...
