Blackwater Told to Pack Bags

Ray pointed me to this BBC article announcing that the Iraqi government has decided to tell Blackwater that their services will no longer be permitted in Iraq.

Iraq will not renew the licence of US security firm Blackwater, which was involved in an 2007 incident in which at least 14 civilians were killed.

An interior ministry spokesman said the US embassy had been told it will have to use another security company.
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"The contract is finished and will be not be renewed by order of the minister of the interior," said interior ministry spokesman Maj Gen Abdel Karim Khalaf.

He said the decision had been sent to the US embassy in Baghdad and "they have to find a new security company".

He added that the decision had been prompted by the incident on 16 September 2007.
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A new US-Iraqi security agreement gives Baghdad the authority to determine which Western security companies operate in the country.

A US embassy official confirmed it had received the Iraqi decision, and said US officials were working with the Iraqi government and its contractors to address the "implications of this decision".

Yeah, it's so uncomfortable when those governments reliant on US foreign aid and security decide to do things that's not in the US government's interest. Bloody rude, those chaps.

Comments

[Sven Ortmann]

I'm confused.

I thought Blackwater has no license for ops in Iraq since about 2005? The simply ignored it IIRC.

[J.]

Nope - State Dept said that it had "no other choice" but to renew Blackwater's contract. They had a five-year contract that started in 2006, one year start with four option years. My understanding is that the Iraq govt threatened but didn't pull the contract in the past.