Private US mercenary army Blackwater banned from Iraq
From Al Jazeera
September 17, 2008
The Iraqi interior ministry has cancelled the operating license of a US security firm [Blackwater USA] after it was involved in a shootout that killed eight people, a senior official said.
Abdul-Karim Khalaf, a ministry spokesman, said 13 people were wounded when Blackwater USA staff opened fire in a Baghdad incident involving an attack on a US motorcade.
"The interior minister has issued an order to cancel Blackwater's licence and the company is prohibited from operating anywhere in Iraq," Khalaf said on Monday.
"We have opened a criminal investigation against the group who committed the crime."
The spokesman said witness reports pointed to Blackwater's involvement but said the incident, in a predominantly Sunni area of western Baghdad on Sunday, was still under investigation.
US troops are immune from prosecution in Iraq under the UN resolution that authorises their presence, but Khalaf said the exemption did not apply to private security companies.
Full Article
- AL Jazeera: Iraq ends US security firm licence
- Wikipedia: Blackwater
- Wikipedia: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army
- Wikipedia: mercenary
1 comment:
PRAETORIAN FORCES
Praetorian forces, do
Collect around
Criminal action--who
Such deeds has owned?
As metal shavings round a pin
That is electrified,
So they to profit, even sin
Which falls the sin of pride.
Praetorian forces meant
To serve the warlord,
Far from in their intent
Most holy our Lord.
With their star in ascendancy
The corporate brigand bands
Foster entrenched dependency
Of many lawless hands.
Praetorian forces, they
May soon defeat
Civilian ease: the fray
Wholesale complete.
Be damned the men as did invite,
Even encourage them--
Petraeus though seeing all aright
Per narrow stratagem;
Praetorian forces--but
From broader vantage,
Gates to the past be shut
By their supplantage.
Be damned them all to hell, I say,
And even unto heaven pray--
Unconscionable, such men as they,
Crude mercenaries, bred to prey.
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