[Over the last two days, Iraqi security forces prevented several major
Al Qaida strikes in the north. This included the foiling of an Al Qaida
hijacking of two passenger buses destined for Syria on Sept. 22.]
Officials said, however, that Blackwater, which insists that the convoy
had been attacked, would not be expelled from Iraq. They said such a move
would generate a security vacuum in Baghdad and harm the U.S. troop surge
strategy against Sunni and Shi'ite insurgents.
On Sept. 21, after a four-day suspension, Blackwater resumed operations
in Baghdad. The United States has agreed to help draft regulations that
would govern the conduct of Blackwater and other private military
contractors in Iraq.
Blackwater — along with the U.S. firms Dyncorp and Triple Canopy — has
been employed by the State Department. Blackwater has also been blamed for
six other shootings in which 10 Iraqis were killed and 15 others injured.
The Government Accountability Office reported 48,000 private security
officers in Iraq.
"The necessary measures will be taken that will preserve the honor of
the Iraqi people," Iraqi government spokesman Ali Al Dabbagh said. "We have
ongoing high-level meetings with the U.S. side about this issue."
The investigation determined that Blackwater guards opened fire toward
an Iraqi driver who would not enable a State Department convoy to pass.
Investigators dismissed assertions by Blackwater that the convoy had been
bombed and came under small arms fire in Nissour Square.
Officials said the Interior Ministry plans to eventually replace
Blackwater and other U.S. security contractors with Iraqi companies. They
said the ministry did not set a timetable.
"The future of Blackwater is linked to the joint U.S.-Iraqi
investigation," Al Dabbagh said. "But we will put the lives and dignity of
Iraqis above all considerations."
Blackwater, with 1,000 people in Iraq, has also been under federal
investigation on suspicion that employees smuggled weapons into Iraq and
sold them on the black market. Some of the weapons were said to have reached
at least one insurgency group, the Kurdish Workers Party, which appears on
the State Department's terrorist list.
"Allegations that Blackwater was in any way associated or complicit in
unlawful arms activities are baseless," Blackwater said in a statement. "The
company has no knowledge of any employee improperly exporting weapons."
