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Blackwater guards get immunity
30/10/2007 07:28 - (SA)
Washington - The State Department promised Blackwater USA bodyguards immunity from prosecution in its investigation of last month's deadly shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians, casting doubt on whether anyone will be charged, The Associated Press has learned.
As a result, it will likely be months before the United States can - if ever - bring criminal charges in the case that has infuriated the Iraqi government.
"Once you give immunity, you can't take it away," said a senior law enforcement official familiar with the investigation.
A State Department spokesperson did not have an immediate comment on Monday. Both Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd and FBI spokesperson Rich Kolko declined comment.
FBI agents were returning to Washington late on Monday from Baghdad, where they have been trying to collect evidence in the September 16 embassy convoy shooting without using statements from Blackwater employees who were given immunity.
Three senior law enforcement officials said all the Blackwater bodyguards involved - both in the vehicle convoy and in at least two helicopters above - were given the legal protections as investigators from the Bureau of Diplomatic Security sought to find out what happened. The bureau is an arm of the State Department.
Strained relations with Iraq
The investigative misstep comes in the wake of already-strained relations between the United States and Iraq, which is demanding the right to launch its own prosecution of the Blackwater bodyguards.
Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell declined comment about the US investigation. Blackwater USA is the largest private security firm protecting US diplomats in Iraq.
The company has said its September 16 convoy was under attack before it opened fire in west Baghdad's Nisoor Square, killing 17 Iraqis. A follow-up investigation by the Iraqi government, however, concluded that Blackwater's men were unprovoked. No witnesses have been found to contradict that finding.
An initial incident report by US Central Command, which oversees military operations in Iraq, also indicated "no enemy activity involved" in the incident. The report says Blackwater guards were travelling against the flow of traffic through a traffic circle when they "engaged five civilian vehicles with small arms fire" at a distance of 50 metres.
The FBI took over the case early this month, officials said, after prosecutors in the Justice Department's criminal division realised it could not bring charges against Blackwater guards based on their statements to the Diplomatic Security investigators.
Officials said the Blackwater bodyguards spoke only after receiving so-called "Garrity" protections, requiring that their statements only be used internally - and not for criminal prosecutions.
At that point, the Justice Department shifted the investigation to prosecutors in its national security division, sealing the guards' statements and attempting to build a case based on other evidence from a crime scene that was then already two weeks old.
- AP
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