Washington DC, 2007 Oct 31, IRIB  

The Bush regime is facing mounting criticisms with the news that the US state department has offered immunity to Blackwater security guards allegedly involved in a shooting rampage in Baghdad that left at least 17 Iraqi civilians dead. The US congress has also demanded to know the details of the immunity offer, including who decided to grant it and whether US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice had known about it.

Henry Waxman, the Democrat chairman of the House oversight committee which has been investigating Blackwater, has described the decision to grant immunity as "an egregious misjudgment."

Also US law enforcement officials have warned that a State Department pledge of immunity could make judicial prosecution of Blackwater staff impossible. The immunity offer effectively compromise any prosecution case against Blackwater staff in US courts and practically ensure there would be no convictions.

Blackwater, a Virginia-based company employed by the State Department, has been offered lucrative contracts guarding US diplomats in Iraq. Its security guards opened fire without provocation on Iraqi civilians in Nisoor Square, western Baghdad, on September 16, killing 17 people. The incident prompted outrage in Iraq, and propelled the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to approve new legislation revoking the immunity given to foreign contractors under a controversial measure passed by Paul Bremers' coalition provisional authority in 2004.

Blackwater's contract with the US State Department expires in May, and the Iraqi government has urged the Bush regime not to renew the contract.

Private US security firms have up until now operated in legal limbo, not being accountable either under Iraqi or US law. The conduct of private security guards, and their trigger-happy attitude, has outraged Iraq's population, and become a symbol of the lawlessness of America's military occupation of Iraq.

The US state department and the Pentagon which up to now have acted as Blackwater's enablers are themselves now being questioned by the US congress, with many now calling for this lawlessness to end.