Blackwater Security banned from Iraq

[Jayems]

Iraq's Interior Ministry has revoked the license of Blackwater USA, an American security firm whose contractors are blamed for a Sunday gunbattle in Baghdad that left eight civilians dead. The U.S. State Department said it plans to investigate what it calls a "terrible incident."

There is a video out there of some contracting company who are taking pot-shots at civillians, and shooting people at random. Sometimes I wonder if they're just as bad as the insurgents.


http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/...ain/index.html

[Azure]

When you fill a DOS contract you are de facto working as a DOS entity not under your own "license".

Not going to change anything.

As far as I know...BW 'license' in Iraq has been out of date for a while now. Like I said...nothing is going to change.

[Jayems]

Originally Posted by Azure

When you fill a DOS contract you are de facto working as a DOS entity not under your own "license".

Not going to change anything.

As far as I know...BW 'license' in Iraq has been out of date for a while now. Like I said...nothing is going to change.

So they can still work there? Whats a DOS contract? Department of Security?

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Jayems

So they can still work there? Whats a DOS contract? Department of Security?

Department of State....US State Department.

Yes they can still work there.....BlackWater does not have a contract with the Iraqi Government...therefore the Iraqi government can't ban them from Iraq.

If they ban the State Department....then Blackwater won't be able to work there.

But as usual....the media took something and ran with it....

[Jayems]

Originally Posted by Azure

Department of State....US State Department.

Yes they can still work there.....BlackWater does not have a contract with the Iraqi Government...therefore the Iraqi government can't ban them from Iraq.

If they ban the State Department....then Blackwater won't be able to work there.

But as usual....the media took something and ran with it....

Gotcha.

[Fozzie_DeBear]

Sooooo...I wonder if legally Iraq could call Blackwater staff 'enemy combatants' and would they fall under the Geneva conventions?

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Fozzie_DeBear

Sooooo...I wonder if legally Iraq could call Blackwater staff 'enemy combatants' and would they fall under the Geneva conventions?

Hmm...

There are literally thousands of contracters in Iraq these days....not all of them are shooting innocent civilians.

I wonder what the Iraqi government would say if BlackWater decided to pull out of Iraq....and took their medical facilities with them. The backlash would be immense.

[Fozzie_DeBear]

True, but do mercenaries fall under the Geneva conventions? And are they soldiers of the hiring state or civilians or neither?

[Displaced Flames fan]

Isn't this the same company that had one of their operatives burned alive and then hung on a bridge in Mosul a couple of years ago?

Makes you wonder if their focus has shifted.

[Fozzie_DeBear]

Well here is the Geneva convention take on Mercenaries

Article 47.-Mercenaries

1. A mercenary shall not have the right to be a combatant or a prisoner of war.
2. A mercenary is any person who:

(a) Is specially recruited locally or abroad in order to fight in an armed conflict;

(b) Does, in fact, take a direct part in the hostilities;

(c) Is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a Party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar ranks and functions in the armed forces of that Party;

(d) Is neither a national of a Party to the conflict nor a resident of territory controlled by a Party to the conflict;

(e) Is not a member of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict; and

(f) Has not been sent by a State which is not a Party to the conflict on official duty as a member of its armed forces.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Displaced Flames fan

Isn't this the same company that had one of their operatives burned alive and then hung on a bridge in Mosul a couple of years ago?

Makes you wonder if their focus has shifted.

Sure is.