The Bush administration faced intense criticism yesterday after it emerged that the state department had offered immunity to Blackwater security guards allegedly involved in a shooting spree in Baghdad that left 17 dead.
The immunity offer was made by state department investigators in return for information about the September 16 killings. The offer does not mean a trial cannot be mounted but it would compromise any prosecution case and practically ensure there would be no convictions.
Blackwater, a Virginia-based company employed by the state department, was guarding a diplomatic convoy outside the relative safety of Baghdad’s Green Zone when it said it came under fire from insurgents. But the Iraqi government says the security guards opened fire without provocation.
– The Guardian
David Cameron intends to confront King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia today about the torrent of Saudi-sponsored extremist literature that is available in British mosques, The Times has learnt.
The Conservative leader will ask the Saudi King to curb the export of fundamentalist religious ideology in books and pamphlets that advocate the suppression of women’s rights, hatred for non-Muslims and the execution of lapsed Muslims.
His intervention will further destabilise the course of the Saudi state visit, which started badly when King Abdullah criticised Britain’s record on fighting al-Qaeda terrorism.
– The Times
Iraq’s cabinet on Tuesday backed a draft law to make foreign security contractors liable to prosecution, amid continuing controversy over the behaviour of Blackwater and other security companies in the country.
The bill still has to be approved by Iraq’s fractious parliament, but legislators said support would be likely, since the issue has inflamed Iraqi political and public opinion.
“The cabinet has approved a law that will put non-Iraqi firms and those they employ under Iraqi law,” Ali al-Dabbagh, Iraqi government spokesman, told news agencies after a cabinet meeting.
– The Financial Times
