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WORLD / Middle East
Iraqi PM disputes Blackwater version
(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-09-19 19:48
The Interior Ministry said Monday that it had permanently revoked
Blackwater's license and would order its 1,000 personnel to leave the
country. The following day the government rolled back, suggesting the
firm's operations were only suspended pending completion of a joint
US-Iraqi investigation.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, en route to the Middle East, said
Tuesday night that it was too soon to tell what effect the ban will have
on US operations in Iraq. Rice said she has expressed regret at the loss
of life to the Iraqi prime minister.
"I committed to him that we were as interested as the Iraqi government in
having a full investigation into what happened ... and to working with
the Iraqi government to try and make certain that this sort of thing
doesn't happen," Rice said.
Iraqis have long resented the presence of the estimated 48,000 private
security contractors - including about 1,000 Blackwater employees -
considering them a mercenary force that runs roughshod over civilians in
their own country.
Blackwater, whose convoys of SUVs careen through the streets with weapons
displayed, has been singled out for much of the criticism.
"Blackwater has a reputation. If you want over-over-the-top, gun-toting
security with high profile and all the bells and whistles, Blackwater are
the people you are going to go with," said James Sammons, a former
Australian Special Air Service commander who now works for British-based
AKE Group that also provides security in Iraq.
He said any civilian killings by security contractors tarnish the
reputations of all of them.
"We get lumped in with that and it makes the job harder for the rest of
us," said Sammons, who is AKE's Asia-Pacific regional director, based in
Sydney, Australia.
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