US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Friday responded to growing concerns over the conduct of Blackwater security escorts working for the State Department in Iraq by directing that all Blackwater USA [corporate website; JURIST news...
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JURIST Guest Columnist Jordan Paust of the University of Houston Law Center says that US legislation now on the books would allow Blackwater personnel reasonably accused of the unlawful killing of persons in Iraq to be prosecuted in US federal...
US House passes bill to expand US court jurisdiction over contractors in Iraq
The US House of Representatives voted 389-30 Thursday in favor of a bill to effectively end the "de facto immunity" enjoyed by many private contractors working for the US in Iraq. While Defense Department [official...
Blackwater CEO insists employees never intentionally killed Iraqi civilians
Founder and chief executive of Blackwater USA Erik Prince testified in a hearing Tuesday before the US House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that employees of his security firm have...
JURIST Contributing Editor Geoffrey S. Corn, Lt. Col. US Army (Ret.) and former Special Assistant to the Judge Advocate General for Law of War Matters, now a professor at South Texas College of Law, says that effectively controlling the exponential...
FBI investigating Blackwater role in Iraqi civilian shootings
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said Monday that it would send a team of investigators to Iraq to study the circumstances surrounding a September shooting incident involving employees of the privately contracted security firm Blackwater USA [corporate...
Iraq parliament to consider private security contractor regulations
The Iraqi Interior Ministry is proposing draft legislation to be submitted to the Iraqi parliament that places private security contractors under Iraqi legal jurisdiction, a ministry spokesperson said Tuesday. The legislation, drafted in response to the domestic outrage at...
A senior Iraqi Interior Ministry official announced Saturday that Iraqi investigators have a videotape showing Blackwater USA private security contractors shooting unarmed Iraqi civilians and that it has referred the incident to the country's judiciary. Under Iraqi...
Blackwater Iraq killings highlight lack of legal recourse against US contractors: NYT
Private security contractors operating in Iraq work largely above the law due to legal loopholes, according to a Thursday New York Times report on the aftermath of Sunday's shooting death of at least eight Iraqi civilians at the...
US House committee launches probe of State Department inspector general
The US House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Tuesday announced an investigation into whether State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard interfered with a fraud investigation related to construction of a new US embassy...