The investigations of reckless shootings by Blackwater should be done by independant investigators and not just by the government agency that hired Blackwater.
Questionable offers of immunity to Blackwater guards may hinder a U.S. inquiry into the deaths of 17 Iraqis.
Conflicts of interest are bad. Private conflicts of interest that damage the national interest are inexcusable. And the news that State Department investigators -- apparently acting without authority -- promised immunity from prosecution to Blackwater USA contractors being interviewed about their role in the killings of 17 Iraqi civilians is nothing short of scandalous.
The Blackwater case is rightly viewed in Iraq as a test of national sovereignty. Either Iraq is a sovereign state that has the right to see that murders committed on its territory are prosecuted -- no matter who the suspects work for -- or it is an occupied nation subject to "victor's justice."
Washington has promised Baghdad a full and fair investigation of the September shootings, followed by prosecution, if warranted, of the contractors who opened fire. The contractors must be presumed innocent unless proved otherwise. But the appearance of fairness and the objectivity of the U.S. investigation have been badly compromised by the rogue grant of immunity to potential suspects by an arm of the State Department, the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. That bureau appears to have such a close relationship with the politically well-connected Blackwater firm that it should never have been allowed to conduct an investigation in the first place. Now FBI investigators, who were called in to take over from Diplomatic Security two weeks after the shootings, complain that promises of immunity offered to at least four Blackwater employees will make prosecutions more difficult.
The Blackwater case is rightly viewed in Iraq as a test of national sovereignty. Either Iraq is a sovereign state that has the right to see that murders committed on its territory are prosecuted -- no matter who the suspects work for -- or it is an occupied nation subject to "victor's justice."
Washington has promised Baghdad a full and fair investigation of the September shootings, followed by prosecution, if warranted, of the contractors who opened fire. The contractors must be presumed innocent unless proved otherwise. But the appearance of fairness and the objectivity of the U.S. investigation have been badly compromised by the rogue grant of immunity to potential suspects by an arm of the State Department, the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. That bureau appears to have such a close relationship with the politically well-connected Blackwater firm that it should never have been allowed to conduct an investigation in the first place. Now FBI investigators, who were called in to take over from Diplomatic Security two weeks after the shootings, complain that promises of immunity offered to at least four Blackwater employees will make prosecutions more difficult.
No comments :
Post a Comment