Media reports late Friday said five security guards with Blackwater USA were told to surrender to the FBI by Monday to face manslaughter charges stemming from a 2007 shooting incident in Iraq.
Security contractors fired in response to alleged hostile fire during the Sept. 16 escort of a State Department official, killing 17 Iraqis. FBI investigators found in November 2007 that Blackwater security personnel fired indiscriminately in 14 of the 17 shooting deaths of Iraqi civilians. The FBI said the contractors violated deadly-force rules in effect for security contractors, suggesting they had acted recklessly.
A federal investigation into the incident found two members, former Marine Dustin Heard, and former U.S. Army soldier Paul Sough, did most of the shooting and can be expected to face murder or manslaughter charges.
The case is expected to encounter several legal hurdles. Prosecutors said they plan to file charges under laws governing military personnel and contractors, thought Blackwater is operating in Iraq under a security contract with the U.S. State Department, a civilian agency.
Blackwater considers itself part of the Pentagon's “total force” package, which it says justifies immunity from civilian prosecution. L. Paul Bremer, the former civilian administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority, passed a measure in 2004 that declared, “Contractors shall be immune from Iraqi legal process.”
The latest developments come as a legal framework defining the U.S. military presence in Iraq following the expiration of the current U.N. development was passed by the three-member Iraqi presidential council Thursday, bringing the measure into force Jan. 1.
The State Department has renewed the Blackwater contract for 2009 amid widespread protests.
