The chairman of Blackwater, the private US security firm at the centre of a major diplomatic row in Iraq, said yesterday he will not hand over any of his hired guns for trial in Baghdad.
Erik Prince, a former US Navy Seal commando, confirmed that 20 of his Blackwater guards were under investigation for their part in what witnesses claim was the indiscriminate shooting of at least 17 unarmed Iraqi civilians last month.
The US military is meanwhile pressing for jurisdiction over the tens of thousands of armed "security contractors" working as bodyguards and convoy escorts for the US government or major foreign companies inside the country.
Mr Prince said his men were being protected in a secure area within Baghdad's heavily-defended Green Zone and were carrying out light duties while their fate was determined.
The Iraqis have already demanded Blackwater and its 800 employees be expelled and that the firm pays up to £2m to the relatives of each of the civilians killed on September 16. Iraqi ministers are also calling for a public trial of the men.
Blackwater has been involved in 195 separate shooting incidents since 2005, but has enjoyed exemption from international laws because it is the US State Department's main contractor.
Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, has now intervened to try to bring the estimated 48,000 international mercenaries and specialists under US military rules.
Mr Prince said yesterday: "We will not let our people be taken by the Iraqis. In an ideal sense there could be a trial in the Iraqi court system. But that would imply there is a valid Iraqi legal system where Westerners could get a fair trial. That is not the case."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article