New Law May Spell End to Iraq Contractors

[babylonsister]

New Law May Spell End to Iraq Contractors
Submitted by davidswanson on Sun, 2007-11-11 20:29. Criminal Prosecution

By David Martin, CBS News

Documents show Iraqi Parliament considering ending immunity for private firms.

Washington - The government of Iraq has notified private security firms their immunity from Iraqi law is about to end, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports.

The title of a letter sent by the interior ministry - and obtained exclusively CBS News - says it all: "Removing the legal immunity." Until now, security firms like Blackwater have operated under a grant of immunity issued in 2004 by the then-top American in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer.

But the draft of a new law says "all immunities … shall be cancelled."

That law still must be ratified by the Iraqi parliament, and if and when it is, private security firms would almost certainly pull out of Iraq.

"There's no question it's a disaster if this got passed," said Carter Andress, one of an estimated 8,500 private security contractors guarding diplomats, convoys and reconstruction sites for the U.S. He is not willing to let his employees be subject to arrest by an Iraqi police force he believes is riddled with corruption and infiltrated by enemy fighters.

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http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/28621

[mod mom]

1. excellent but perhaps the Democratic Party should have sought this legislation

of accountability.

[saigon68]

2. No Chance

Most democrats like the DLC bunch have their Snouts in the Public Trough and are getting rich

[mod mom]

4. sorry, I forgot the sarcasm notation.

:hi:

You are correct. Just like how those same folks stood in the way for crying election fraud in the last 2 presidential elections.

[TwilightGardener]

3. Yikes. I'm surprised the Puppet Parliament let it get this far--

time to get a hold of those strings, ChimpCo.

[DCKit]

5. I hope they ratify it tomorrow.

The mercenary corporations deserve anything they get.