Envoy lauds Blackwater despite 'horrific' killings

BAGHDAD - The U.S. ambassador said yesterday he still held Blackwater USA bodyguards in "high regard" even as he labeled the killing of 17 Iraqis by the company's security contractors a "horrific" incident that prompted him to seek an FBI probe.

The Iraqi government has demanded Blackwater's expulsion within six months and $8 million compensation for each of the victims of the Sept. 16 shootings.

Ambassador Ryan Crocker lauded the Blackwater guards, mostly military veterans who protect him and other American envoys and officials in Baghdad's dangerous streets.

"Those guys guard my back," he said, "and I have to say they do it extremely well. I continue to have high regard for the individuals who work for Blackwater, as I do for other security contractors. That said, the incident in September was . . . horrific."

He also said he had failed to fully examine possible problems with Blackwater. Critics have accused the Moyock, N.C.-based company of lax oversight of its heavily armed security teams in Iraq.

"I'm the ambassador here, so I'm responsible," Crocker said, responding to questions from Western reporters. "Yes, I certainly do wish I'd had the foresight to see that there were things out there that could be corrected."

He declined to speak about Blackwater's future in Iraq, saying the FBI investigation was not complete. Blackwater's contract with the State Department expires in May, and there are questions about whether it will remain the primary diplomatic bodyguard.

On Sept. 16, four Blackwater gun trucks responding to a distress call from another convoy under the company's protection blocked west Baghdad's Nisoor Square. Blackwater has said its convoy came under fire before the guards opened fire in the square, killing 17 Iraqis.

The Iraqi government investigation said Blackwater's men were unprovoked. No witnesses have been found to contradict that finding. Blackwater has sequestered the men involved, and their accounts of what happened remain publicly untold.

One of the most serious disputes with the Iraqi government hinges on an immunity decree for security contractors issued by L. Paul Bremer, who ran the U.S. occupation government until June 2004. The order, known as Decree 17, was issued just before he handed sovereignty to an Iraqi interim government.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said his cabinet was drafting legislation that would overturn Decree 17 and force the State Department to replace Blackwater with another security company.

"Decree 17 hasn't been discussed with us," Crocker said, referring to a committee of U.S. and Iraqi officials that is handling the fallout from the Sept. 16 shooting.

An Italian court threw out the case against a U.S. soldier charged in the 2005 killing of an Italian intelligence agent in Iraq. The decision stirred new anger in a clash with Washington.

The court granted the defense's argument that Italy had no jurisdiction over the case against Spec. Mario Lozano,

on trial in absentia on charges of murder and attempted murder.

Lozano was on trial for the March 4, 2005, death of Nicola Calipari, shot at a checkpoint near Baghdad airport shortly after securing the release of a kidnapped Italian reporter. The journalist, Giuliana Sgrena, and an agent

who was driving the car were wounded.

"The arrogance of America, which never wanted this trial, has won," Sgrena told reporters at the Rebibbia courthouse in Rome.

Lozano, 38, a member

of the 69th Infantry Regiment, has denied wrongdoing. He has told U.S. reporters that he flashed a warning light, signaling the vehicle to stop, and then shot first

at the ground and then at the car's engine.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman noted that a U.S. military probe in 2005 had called Calipari's death

a "very tragic accident."

- Associated PressEndText