Al-Maliki Says Blackwater Should Be Replaced for `Criminal Act'

Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called on the U.S. to replace Blackwater, the security company that protects State Department staff in Iraq, after the firm was involved in a shooting incident he called a ``criminal act''.

``The Americans should hire another company to protect their people,'' al-Maliki said in a news conference aired today on state television. The ``criminal act'' wasn't the first involving the company, he said.

The Iraqi government said it was suspending Blackwater's operating license and reviewing all security companies in Iraq following a Baghdad shooting on Sept. 16. The incident, which involved guards from the company, left eight civilians dead, the Interior Ministry said. Moyock, North Carolina-based Blackwater USA has said its personnel acted in self-defense.

A preliminary Interior Ministry report into the shooting said that the Blackwater guards weren't ambushed, and fired at a car when it ignored a policeman's order to halt, killing a couple and their child, the New York Times reported today. The Ministry of Defense report said helicopter fire was also involved, and that some 20 Iraqis were killed, a larger figure than initially reported by the Interior Ministry, the Times said.

U.S. officials have refused to discuss the incident. It suspended yesterday all movement of government personnel, who are usually escorted by Blackwater, outside the fortified Baghdad Green Zone while it investigates the shootout. The suspension will be ``reviewed on a daily basis,'' U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo said today at a televised news conference.

Details of Incident

Nantongo refused to discuss details of the incident or whether any laws govern foreign security companies in Iraq, citing ``dangers of speaking about the version of events while the investigation is going on.'' The U.S. is in ``close discussions'' with the Iraqi government to investigate the incident and accountability.

Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani called the shooting ``a big crime about which we cannot keep silent'' in an interview with al-Arabiya television on Sept. 17.

Security contractors have been accused in previous incidents of using excessive force and killing Iraqi civilians. In response to a question about previous alleged incidents, Nantongo said that there are ``inter-jurisdictional issues that need to be resolved'' and ``nobody's denying there are previous events that are relevant.''

No private security employee working in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion has been tried there or in any coalition country.

Blackwater will remain in Iraq during the investigation, Nantongo said. The company is one of several operating in Iraq that fulfill roles as diverse as guards, builders, chefs and interrogators.

Use of Mercenaries

A United Nations working group on the use of mercenaries said in February there were about 48,000 private employees working in support of the coalition forces in 2006, a figure about a third of the size of the U.S. military presence in Iraq and almost 10 times the deployment by the U.K.'s contingent in the country.

Blackwater USA was founded in 1997 by former U.S. Navy Seal Erik Prince, and its contractors are mostly former members of the military. Its name became famous when four Blackwater guards were killed in a March 2004 ambush on their vehicles in Fallujah, Iraq, an event that preceded the first of two assaults by U.S. Marines that razed the city.

To contact the reporters on this story: Robin Stringer in London at rstringer@bloomberg.net; Camilla Hall in London at chall24@bloomberg.net.