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U.S. Military Will Oversee Armed Contractors In Iraq

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The New York Times

Published: October 31, 2007

WASHINGTON - All State Department security convoys in Iraq now will be 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 Gates agreed to the measure Tuesday after weeks of tension between their two departments over coordination of thousands of gun-carrying contractors operating in the chaos of Iraq.

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 those of dozens of other private firms that guard U.S. diplomats, aid workers and reconstruction crews.

In Iraq, the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki approved a draft law to overturn an order imposed by the American occupation authority in 2004 that granted employees of foreign contractors immunity from Iraqi law.

Also 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. But officials insisted the immunity was limited and did not foreclose the possibility of prosecutions.

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 in Iraq.

He said that 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.'

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