The United Nations urged U.S. authorities yesterday to hold private security firms accountable for unjustified killings of Iraqi civilians and warned against increasing reliance on the heavily armed guards. The U.N. Assistance Mission to Iraq also expressed concern that too many Iraqi civilians are being killed in U.S. military operations as part of a security crackdown in Baghdad and surrounding areas. Its biannual human rights report noted several reports of "killings carried out by privately hired contractors with security-related functions in support of U.S. government authorities".
Blackwater USA, the largest American firm protecting U.S. diplomats is under scrutiny of killing 17 unarmed Iraqi civilians, after opening fire on an intersection in central Baghdad on September 16. The company said its guards returned fire at threatening targets and responded lawfully to a threat against a convoy it was guarding. But Iraqi authorities have accused Blackwater of "deliberate murders" of Iraqi civilians and are demanding millions of dollars in compensation and the removal of the company from the country within six months.
This case, and others, have provoked outrage among Iraqis who have long hated what they see as overly aggressive behavior by the security contractors. The Iraqi government has launched investigations and a joint U.S.-Iraqi panel has been created to review the practices of the security companies, which generally have enjoyed immunity and little oversight in Iraq.
The American firm Blackwater USA has also been served notice that it faces investigations for war crimes after the killings last month. In fact, an Iraqi who was wounded in the 16 September shooting, and the relatives of three people killed in the attack, filed a court case in Washington, accusing Blackwater of violating American law by committing "extrajudicial killings and war crimes".
These killings put clearly the spotlight on the private security firms whose employees are immune from prosecution, unlike professional soldiers are subject to courts martial. "We will monitor the allegations of killings by security contractors and look into whether or not crimes against humanity and war crimes have been committed", said yesterday Ivana Vuco, the most senior UN human rights officer in Iraq.
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