Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki suggested yesterday the US Embassy stop using American security firm Blackwater after a deadly shooting, saying he would not allow Iraqis to be killed in "cold blood".
US civilian officials have been barred from road travel in Iraq outside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone because of possible attacks.
Iraq has said it would review the status of all security firms after what it called a "flagrant assault" by Blackwater contractors in which 11 people were killed while the firm was escorting a US Embassy convoy through Baghdad on Sunday.
"We will not allow Iraqis to be killed in cold blood ... What happened was a crime. It has left a deep grudge and anger, both inside the government and among the Iraqi people," Maliki told a news conference.
"It is in our interests to freeze the work of this company and the embassy can travel with other companies."
The shooting has triggered an outpouring of anger from Iraqis, who see the tens of thousands of security contractors working in the country as private armies that act with impunity.
At issue for many Iraqis is sovereignty, given that security firms appear to have immunity from Iraqi law under a 2004 regulation written while Iraq was under US administration.
The Interior Ministry has said Sunday's incident was sparked when Blackwater guards opened fire indiscriminately after mortar rounds landed near their convoy in western Baghdad.
Blackwater, one of the biggest private security operators in Iraq and which protects the US Embassy, said its guards reacted "lawfully and appropriately" to a hostile attack. Maliki said that account was "not accurate".
Maliki said Blackwater's work had been halted, but he did not say its license had been revoked. He said the Interior Ministry had recorded seven violations against the firm. He did not elaborate.
In a statement sent to Americans in Iraq, the US Embassy in Baghdad said the temporary ban on road travel was imposed to reassess security procedures.
"In light of the serious security incident involving a US embassy protection detail... the embassy has suspended official US government civilian ground movements outside the International Zone and throughout Iraq," it said.
"This suspension is in effect in order to assess mission security and procedures, as well as to assess a possible increased threat to personnel travelling with security details outside the International Zone."
Source: China Daily/agencies
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