(ABC News) Spokesman for Iraqi PM al-Maliki: Blackwater will not be kicked out of the country

[sabra]

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=3621200&page=1

<snip>

A confidential report from the U.S. Embassy Baghdad titled "Blackwater security detail involved in lethal incident" issued Monday and obtained by ABC News says there were five Blackwater security guards involved in the firefight when a car bomb went off near the entrance to the Izdihar financial compound northwest of the Green Zone.

Subsequent car bombs went off and a firefight erupted, the report said, adding that the fight involved Iraqi police units.

The contractors were operating under extremely dangerous circumstances. The report says the car bomb that set off the incident was "the 6th attack on (embassy) personnel in eight days."

...

However, the spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Tuesday the company would not be kicked out of the country but stressed the company's staff must "respect the law here in Iraq."

[MichiganVote]

1. They aren't going anywhere unless * wants them out and that's not going to happen

[Avalux]

2. Gee - that wasn't predictable.

All those ahem - 'phone calls' - from the State Department must have done the trick. :puke:

[simmonsj811]

3. ok

he got his marching orders

[Toucano]

7. Maybe Condi flashed a little vial of anthrax.

Like Powell had at the UN.

[Supersedeas]

22. Blackwater is an arm of the Bushists regime in Iraq--it will stay

[Warren Stupidity]

4. That would be because al -Maliki has no power.

So what if some foreign merc contracters wantonly kill the people of Iraq and do so with both impugnity and immunity? al-Maliki will do as he is told. He is now both humiliated and publicly emasculated. His time will be very short.

[Toucano]

5. I'm shocked!

You mean the democratically elected Prime Minister BACKED DOWN?

Wow! Not.

[AlCzervik]

6. He can't even prosecute them because "Iraq doesn't have the jurisdiction" to do

so never mind chuck them out of the country.

[aquart]

8. Well, goodness.

Doesn't the real power among the Iraqis want them out?

Would that mean being Blackwater is about to be extremely unhealthy?

[tularetom]

9. I'm shocked - shocked I tell you

Since Iraq is, you know, a sovereign nation, I actually believed they had the power to make a decision like this and enforce it. And I thought we were there to help their fledgling democracy stand on its own two feet. Well they did stand up - they said this kind of shit is intolerable. So why are they backin away from what they said? Could it be they aren't a "sovereign nation" after all? Nah, the boy king tells us again and again that they are.

Thinking about things like this makes my hair hurt.

[rodeodance]

10. of course not--they protect the American elites

[rodeodance]

11. abc eve. news said Bush was very upset over this and 'personally' told Gates

to investigate.

[rodeodance]

12. Here:

President Bush has personally ordered his top national security officials to get to the bottom of what happened with Blackwater U.S.A, a private security firm being blamed by the Iraqi government for an incident which left at least 11 Iraqis dead, ABC News' Jonathan Karl has learned.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered a comprehensive review of the U.S. government's use of security contractors in Iraq.
Related Stories

*
Who Are the Contractors in Iraq?
*
Contractor Rules: Fire Only 'Aimed Shots'
*

Today, the U.S. embassy in Baghdad suspended the movement of all official civilian employees outside the Green Zone while the investigation goes forward.

[gratuitous]

15. Just like he got to the bottom of the Plame leak

So Petraeus tells us last week what a swell job the Iraqis are doing running their country, and this week, it's apparent they can't manage their affairs sufficiently to investigate a massacre in one of their largest cities.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

13. Indeed, they're already backtracking

The move came even as the Iraqi government appeared to back down from statements Monday that it had permanently revoked Blackwater's license and would order its 1,000 personnel to leave the country — depriving American diplomats of security protection essential to operating in Baghdad.

"We are not intending to stop them and revoke their license indefinitely but we do need them to respect the law and the regulation here in Iraq," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told CNN.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070918/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

What we need to keep in mind is that there are two other companies who provide hired mercs in Iraq. Not just the now infamous Blackwater. The other two are Dyncorp and Triple Canopy. Both of whom are no more liked by the citizens of Iraq.

This will be swept under the rug, but it's far from over.

[Theduckno2]

17. I agree, far from over.

It would seem that the initial revocation of Blackwater's license, without benefit of an investigation, could be portrayed a premature.

No, I think that the use of mercs in Iraq, along with their subsequent wrongdoing, is exceptionally alienating to Iraqis and any future evidence of misdeeds by Blackwater or their likes will only serve to make them more of a burden than they are worth.

I suspect that it is why Bush turned the matter directly over to Gates. The use of mercs, it would seem, is a necessary underpinning to any significant troop withdrawals. This issue could become quite the populist issue for a fledgling Iraqi government, giving them more power to deal with the Bush administration. Just look at how the Hariri (spelling?) assassination in Lebanon forever changed the political landscape there.

[tabasco]

14. The sole purpose of the war/occupation is corporate profits.

The Bush / Cheney mafia will not allow the puppet government to stand in the way of that.

However, I predict some fake concessions to provide cover to the quislings.

Maybe Blackwater Baghdad will be renamed or some other deception.

[blogslut]

16. Not surpised

Sad, but not surprised.

[uppityperson]

18. F* that stuff. I knew they wouldn't leave. k&r

[Vidar]

19. Too bad. Blackwater's deaththreats against Maliki apparently worked.

[SOS]

20. "Iraq is sovereign. Let freedom ring"

:rofl:

[Enrique]

21. I wonder how much we paid him?

how many millions of our tax dollars to bribe the Iraqis to ensure we can keep spending many more millions to enrich a politically-connected company?