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US Military Will Oversee Contractors
By John M. Broder and David Johnston
The New York Times
Wednesday 31 October 2007
Washington - All State Department security convoys in Iraq will now fall
under military control, the latest step taken by government officials to bring
Blackwater Worldwide and other armed contractors under tighter supervision.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates
agreed to the measure at a lunch on Tuesday after weeks of tension between their
departments over coordination of thousands of gun-carrying contractors operating
in the chaos of Iraq.
Mr. Gates appears to have won the bureaucratic tug-of-war, which accelerated
after a Sept. 16 shooting in central Baghdad involving guards in a Blackwater
convoy who Iraqi investigators say killed 17 Iraqis. Military coordination of
contractor convoys will include operations of not only Blackwater, formerly
known as Blackwater USA, but also those of dozens of other private firms that
guard American diplomats, aid workers and reconstruction crews.
In Iraq, the government approved a draft law to overturn an order imposed by
the American occupation authority in 2004 granting the employees of foreign
contractors immunity from Iraqi law. Also on Tuesday, the State Department confirmed
that some Blackwater employees questioned in connection with the Sept. 16 shooting
had been granted a form of immunity in exchange for their statements. However,
officials insisted that the immunity was limited and that it did not foreclose
the possibility of prosecutions.
Democrats in Congress complained that the State Department appeared to have
bungled the Blackwater investigation and said they feared that no one would
be held accountable for the Iraqi deaths. "It feels like they're
protecting Blackwater," said Representative Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois
Democrat.
At the Pentagon, Geoff Morrell, the chief spokesman, said the military would
assert greater control over contractor training, rules for the use of force,
employment standards and movements around Iraq.
He said Mr. Gates and military officers in Iraq insisted on the new measures
"so they aren't blindsided by contractors running in and out of
their battle space and potentially causing problems."
Mr. Morrell and his State Department counterpart, Sean McCormack, said that
the details of the new arrangement had not been worked out but that the process
was on a fast track and that both agencies hoped to have all issues resolved
by Thanksgiving.
The top American commander in Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus, will have to approve
the arrangement, but he is likely to accept new rules that give his officers
greater control over the numerous armed entities operating in his theater.
The State Department has had repeated problems trying to rein in the nearly
845 Blackwater guards in Iraq, who have fired their weapons in 195 incidents
since 2005, according to Blackwater's count, leaving an undetermined number
of Iraqis dead. Blackwater and two other security companies, DynCorp International
and Triple Canopy, share a multibillion-dollar contract to guard American diplomats
and other civilians in Iraq.
But the Defense Department has had its own difficulties controlling its nearly
130,000 contractors, who handle a variety of jobs including interrogations of
prisoners and transportation of fuel and ammunition. Auditors have uncovered
numerous instances of cost overruns, sloppy work, theft and corruption in the
tens of billions of dollars in logistics and reconstruction contracts in Iraq.
But for now, the focus is on a series of measures to bring greater accountability
to private security contractors. The State Department has announced several
such steps already, including the assignment of agents of the Bureau of Diplomatic
Security to accompany all Blackwater convoys, the installation of video cameras
in all Blackwater vehicles and the establishment of a multiagency review board
to examine all cases involving the use of force.
Ms. Rice and Mr. Gates agreed to tighten the rules for the use of force by
armed contractors. Although current rules are quite restrictive and allow force
to be used only defensively, the standards have not been enforced and Blackwater
guards, in particular, earned a reputation for being quick on the trigger.
Mr. Morrell said the new, more stringent rules would be likely to put the Blackwater
guards, and perhaps the people they are responsible for protecting, in greater
danger.
"We want everybody operating for the sake of the same mission, O.K.,
which means, as the secretary has talked about before, invariably State Department
contractors are going to have to assume greater risk because we have to operate
with the overall mission in mind," Mr. Morrell said. "And that is
winning the hearts and minds, the trust and confidence, of the Iraqi people."
Congressional Democrats criticized the administration over the immunity issue,
saying it underscored the government's inability to hold contractors accountable.
Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who sits on two committees that
oversee the State and Justice Departments, said: "In this administration,
accountability goes by the boards. That goes equally for misconduct and for
incompetence. If you get caught, they will get you immunity. If you get convicted,
they will commute your sentence."
At the State Department, Mr. McCormack said that any lawbreakers "must
be held to account" as a result of the inquiry into the Sept. 16 shootings,
which has since been taken over by the Justice Department and Federal Bureau
of Investigation. He said that if immunity were granted, it would not preclude
a criminal prosecution.
Of Ms. Rice, he said, "Her attitude has been since the very beginning
that we need to determine the facts and if the facts lead us to the conclusion
that there are those who broke rules, laws or regulations, they must be held
to account."
A Justice Department spokesman, Dean Boyd, said in a statement that Blackwater
employees could be prosecuted despite the immunity deals, which were not authorized
by federal prosecutors. He said that neither the Justice Department nor the
F.B.I. could discuss the case, but said "any suggestion that the Blackwater
employees in question have been given immunity from federal criminal prosecution
is inaccurate."
Three law enforcement officials confirmed Tuesday that State Department investigators
did take statements from Blackwater employees after offering them immunity,
though they had no authority to do so.
Immunity is intended to preserve the constitutional right against self-incrimination
while still giving investigators the ability to gather evidence. Witnesses granted
immunity have no right to remain silent but nothing they say can be used against
them.
Law enforcement officials said the Blackwater employees were given a Garrity
warning, named after a Supreme Court case, Garrity v. New Jersey. This form
of limited immunity does not bar a criminal prosecution but is seldom granted
in a case in which a criminal prosecution is likely. It is almost never granted
without the approval of federal prosecutors.
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