Blackwater's shield from prosecution in Iraq may end soon

WASHINGTON

Reports that the United States has agreed to stop shielding employees of Blackwater Worldwide and other American contractors in Iraq from prosecution in Iraqi courts drew little comment Wednesday from the State Department.

"We don't go into detail on the negotiations," said department spokesman Karl Duckworth. The United States is confident that talks on a "status of forces agreement" to cover Americans in Iraq will produce "an arrangement that will be mutually agreeable," he added.

A new agreement is critical to keeping the U.S. effort in Iraq on solid legal footing. American forces operate under a U. N. mandate that will expire in December. American authorities conferred immunity on thousands of U.S. contractors in Iraq beginning in 2004, before Iraq's sovereignty was restored.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that Iraq's foreign minister has told colleagues that a new deal setting ground rules for Americans in Iraq will not provide immunity for security contractors such as those working for Moyock, N.C.-based Blackwater.

Blackwater has hundreds of operatives in Iraq, assigned principally to protect State Department personnel. The company's top executive said last year that Blackwater would protect from Iraqi courts any of its employees accused in the shootings of 17 Iraqi civilians in an incident last year in Baghdad.

Anne Tyrrell, a Blackwater spokeswoman, said Wednesday that the company is waiting to hear from the State Department on any new agreement before commenting on its plans.

Scott Horton, a professor at New York's Hofstra University law school and an international human rights advocate, said that even if a new agreement ended immunity for contractors, the State Department could shield Blackwater employees under provisions of international law that cover diplomatic security personnel.

Horton said that, given the spotty record of Iraq's nascent court system, it would not be surprising if the United States wanted to extend legal safeguards to Americans working in Iraq. U.S. troops and private contractors in many other countries, including South Korea, Germany and Japan, often are protected from courts in those countries under status-of-forces agreements, he noted.

But those Americans remain subject to prosecution in the United States for offenses committed overseas, Horton said. Slow action or inaction by the United States has fueled Iraqi demands that immunity be lifted, he said.

"U.S. prosecutors have failed to use the laws already on the books to prosecute contractors," an Australian investigator alleged in a U.N. report released Monday.

Eugene Fidell, who teaches law at Yale University and is president of the National Institute of Military Justice, said he's doubtful that the State Department could provide diplomatic protections from prosecution to Blackwater employees.

"The Iraqis weren't born yesterday," Fidell said, adding that they are unlikely to agree to such an arrangement.

Fidell said U.S. contractors have a legitimate interest in seeking protections. Iraqis have made tremendous strides, he said, but constructing a criminal justice system in which people can have confidence has proved to be a challenge.

And unless there is some provision to shield American contractors from Iraqi justice, Fidell said, he would expect many companies to pull their workers out of Iraq once the U.N. mandate ends.

The United States employs about 180,000 contractors in Iraq, said Doug Brooks, president of the International Peace Operations Association, a trade group for security contractors. Roughly two-thirds of those people are Iraqi civilians and already subject to Iraqi law, he said, and only a small fraction of the rest are involved in security work.

The United States uses contractors in Iraq for a variety of support missions - such as providing food and housing for American troops - that previously were done by the military.

Congress has been increasingly uneasy about those practices in recent months, with Virginia Sen. Jim Webb prominent among lawmakers demanding that the Bush administration provide more information about its use of contractors.

Kimberly Hunter, a spokeswoman for Webb, confirmed Wednesday that her boss is holding up Senate confirmation of the nominations of four civilian defense officials until he gets more complete answers to queries about a Blackwater training facility in Southern California.

Hunter said Webb wants to know more about Blackwater's role in training American troops.

Blackwater has invited Webb to tour the California facility, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Dale Eisman, (703) 913-9872, dale.eisman@pilotonline.com