From Terry Frieden
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- No immunity deal was offered to Blackwater USA guards for their statements regarding a shootout in Iraq last month that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead, a senior State Department official told CNN Tuesday.
The statement contradicts comments made Monday by a U.S. government official who said the guards were promised their statements would not be used against them in any prosecution resulting from the September 16 shootings in Baghdad.
Democrats have been angered by suggestions that the contractors had been offered immunity.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Tuesday accused the Bush "amnesty administration" of letting its allies, including security contractors in Iraq, shirk responsibility for their actions.
"In this administration, accountability goes by the boards," Leahy said. "That seems to be a central tenet in the Bush administration -- that no one from their team should be held accountable, if accountability can be avoided.
"That goes equally for misconduct and for incompetence. If you get caught, they will get you immunity. If you get convicted, they will commute your sentence. They are the amnesty administration."
Blackwater USA contractors guarding a U.S. State Department convoy allegedly shot 17 Iraqi civilians to death in Baghdad's Nusoor Square on September 16. Blackwater contends the convoy came under small-arms fire and guards responded in self-defense.
Officials familiar with the matter said on Monday that State Department investigators promised Blackwater guards immunity from prosecution for the incident.
"They [contractors] were told their statements can't be used against them," said one U.S. government official. "But this doesn't necessarily mean charges can never be brought against these guys."
A second official called the limited immunity "surprising and confusing" and questioned the authority of the State Department's diplomatic security investigators to unilaterally make immunity decisions.
"I can understand there would be a lot of very unhappy people," said a third official, an experienced investigator who said decisions are not usually made without consultation with federal prosecutors.
All officials refused to be identified because they were not authorized to speak on this sensitive issue.
Meanwhile, Iraq's parliament is considering a draft bill that would require security companies operating in the country to obey Iraqi laws with no immunity, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Tuesday.
"All security companies operating in Iraq, those affiliated with them and non-Iraqi parties they have a contract with, are subject to Iraqi civil and penal laws," al-Dabbagh said. "There will be no immunity."
The draft bill would also subject security companies to Iraqi laws concerning visas, residency, taxes and customs, al-Dabbagh explained.
The law apparently would not be retroactive, but would address only violations that occur after its passage.
Until then, private contractors in Iraq apparently are still governed by Order 17 of the Coalition Provisional Authority's code for Iraq, set up in the early days of the U.S. occupation.
Order 17 stated that all non-Iraqi entities working in the country were subject to the jurisdiction of their sending countries and "immune from Iraqi legal process."
"They shall be immune from any form of arrest or detention other than by persons acting on behalf of their sending states," the order said.
The Justice Department and FBI refused to comment on the State Department investigation, as did Blackwater.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh and Elise Labott contributed to this report.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/30/blackwater.immunity/index.html
