One of the military contractors in Iraq has been banned following a gunfight:
“We saw a convoy of SUVs passing in the street nearby,” Hussein Abdul-Abbas, owner of a mobile phone store in the area, told the AP. “One minute later, we heard the sound of a bomb explosion followed by gunfire that lasted for 20 minutes between gunmen and the convoy people who were foreigners and dressed in civilian clothes. Everybody in the street started to flee immediately.”
An Interior Ministry spokesman, Brig. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf, said, “We have revoked Blackwater’s license to operate in Iraq. As of now they are not allowed to operate anywhere in the Republic of Iraq. The investigation is ongoing, and all those responsible for Sunday’s killing will be referred to Iraqi justice.”
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to call Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday to discuss the matter, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
The Diplomatic Security Service has launched an official investigation into the Blackwater incident, a review that will be supported by the Multi-National Forces-Iraq, he said.
McCormack said from early reports it appears to be a “terrible incident” with innocent loss of lives.
“The secretary wants to make sure we do everything we possibly can to avoid innocent loss of life,” he said.
McCormack said that while the United States tries to avoid innocent casualties, “we are fighting people who don’t play by any rules” and have no problem killing innocent civilians.
There has been no official notice from the Iraqi government on revoking Blackwater’s license, McCormack said, so he couldn’t confirm it and declined to speculate on how it would affect protection of U.S. personnel that Blackwater is handling.
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad confirmed a State Department convoy was in the area.
“We are taking it very seriously. We are cooperating with the Iraqi government on several different levels and will continue this cooperation with Iraqi officials,” the embassy official said.
