Officials said Blackwater's contract in Iraq ends in April 2009. The
company has been blamed for the death of 17 Iraqis in downtown Iraq during a
shootout with suspected Sunni insurgents in September 2007.
The State Department has been examining the feasibility of employing
Blackwater in Iraq. Under an agreement signed between Baghdad and Washington
in 2008, American employees in Iraq could be prosecuted by the host country.
Many in the Democratic-controlled Congress has urged the Bush
administration to find an alternative to Blackwater. They said Blackwater
and other U.S. security companies in Iraq operated with impunity.
"The era of Blackwater must finally end," Sen. John Kerry, incoming
chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said. "It will benefit
the incoming [Barack Obama] administration to have reassurance from the
State Department that Blackwater's contract should not be renewed."
In February 2008, the House and Senate drafted legislation to ban the
use of private security contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq. One of the
co-sponsors of the bill was Sen. Hillary Clinton, named as the next
secretary of state.
Still, officials said, any effort to replace Blackwater with another
private contractor would be extremely difficult. They said no other company
has
Blackwater's experience, manpower and air fleet.
Blackwater has also been accused of ignoring export regulations in
delivering weapons and ammunition to Iraq. On Dec. 17, the State Department,
in wake of a review, issued measures that would require Blackwater to file
additional reports.
