Word: iraqi
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...Monday, the Iraqi government announced that it was revoking the license of Blackwater USA, the private security firm, to operate in the country. This came after the reported killing of eight Iraqi civilians by Blackwater employees. The United States government should respect the wishes of the Iraqi government and cease to employ Blackwater security forces in Iraq. Furthermore, the practice of using private security forces in the place of U.S. soldiers should be halted altogether.According to the Department of Defense, which overseas all branches of the military, there are currently about 129,000 private contractors in Iraq, of all nationalities...
...government official tells TIME that when President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki sit down for a scheduled bilateral meeting next Tuesday in New York they will discuss the recent episode in Baghdad involving the Blackwater security firm, which is critical to the way American diplomats operate in Iraq. Already, during a telephone conversation on Monday night, Maliki and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice agreed that U.S. diplomats must be free to travel around Iraq, but how they will do that is now a point of contention. Since Iraq suspended Blackwater's license following the Sunday firefight...
...also cast doubt on the possibility of sustaining Iraqi security forces, who she termed the “lynch pin” of the current strategy. Of the 190,000 Iraqis who compose the forces, 6,000 have been killed and 40,000 wounded...
Prime minister Nouri al-Malaiki told the cabinet that the Iraqi government will continue to negotiate with the U.S. about Blackwater's future in country. At the same time, he expressed interest in "reducing and limiting the authority" of all security contractors in Iraq, not just Blackwater, the senior official said. Maliki also ordered a wide-ranging government investigation, including multiple cabinet departments, that will look into the Blackwater incident and the work of security contractors in Iraq in general...
...from several locations" as it moved through a neighborhood of west Baghdad. "The team returned fire to several identified targets" before leaving the area. One vehicle engine was hit and disabled by bullets and had to be towed away. A separate convoy arriving to help was "blocked/surrounded by several Iraqi police and Iraqi national guard vehicles and armed personnel," the report says. Then an American helicopter hovered over the traffic circle, as the U.S. convoy departed without casualties. Some reports have said the helicopter also opened fire on Iraqis, but a Blackwater official told TIME that no shots were fired...