Posted on 09/18/2007 5:33:20 PM PDT by Canticle_of_Deborah
BAGHDAD — The United States on Tuesday suspended all land travel by U.S. diplomats and other civilian officials in Iraq outside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, amid mounting public outrage over the alleged killing of civilians by the U.S. Embassy's security provider Blackwater USA.
The move came even as the Iraqi government appeared to back down from statements Monday that it had permanently revoked Blackwater's license and would order its 1,000 personnel to leave the country — depriving American diplomats of security protection essential to operating in Baghdad.
"We are not intending to stop them and revoke their license indefinitely but we do need them to respect the law and the regulation here in Iraq," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told CNN.
The U.S. order confines most American officials to a 3.5-square-mile area in the center of the city, meaning they cannot visit U.S.-funded construction sites or Iraqi officials elsewhere in the country except by helicopter. The notice did not say when the suspension would expire.
The Iraqi Cabinet decided Tuesday to review the status of all foreign security companies. Still, it was unclear how the dispute would play out, given the government's need to appear resolute in defending national sovereignty while maintaining its relationship with Washington at a time when U.S. public support for the mission is faltering.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
ping
Good move. Without security it is suicide.
It sounds as if the Iraqi government has managed to stir up a lot of trouble for itself. Even if civilians were wrongly killed, which seems doubtful, the last thing they need to be doing is to help the terrorist propaganda campaign against America.
Give me a break...Iraq is way out of line here...good grief...we handed Iraq over to the Iraqis’ way way to fast...I mean look at Japan and Germany...we held on to our control as long as it took to get those countries up and running properly.
I do not believe anyone with a brain would ask Blackwater to leave. The got the job done the other day, and not one client was injured or killed.
How many "innocent" bystanders were killed? How did they decide who was innocent and who were Islamofascists?
More news on this would be apprecited if anyone has a source.
just watch terrorists squirreling in around the Blackwater free areas now.
I agree. And Islamofascists have a history of causing smaller disturbances in an attempt to make the "good guys" hesitate to react quickly to much more serious attacks which follow. Islamofascists are a treacherous bunch.
Pull all security of Iraqi “politicians”......
Let THOSE bastards handle their own security....
I’m losing all “compassion” for the Iraqi..
I see Iraq now, as nothing but an excellent baited field for killing Jihadists...
It is also nice and close to Syria and Iran......and the OIL.
Blackwater must have ponied up the baksheesh.
Much appreciated.
Much appreciated.
Yep, and Condi apparently called Al Maliki this morning and read him the riot act, hence his spokesman's retreat from earlier statements about throwing Blackwater out of Iraq.
Yep, I knew it was a mistake too when Bush pulled Bremer and handed sovereignty back over to the Iraqis just to appease the French, Germans, and Russians, who were all clamoring for it at the time. Now this is what we get.
Allegra mentioned she’d fill us in when cleared to do so.
Except that there is an exceptional amount of media B.S. floating around this story.
His days are numbered, anyway.
I understand that happens when an employer is involved in litigation.
The Iraq war will become known as a war of political enforcement of Iraqi law, selectively.
This hardly seems fair to an organization that does a fantastic job, on precious little compared to the US military.
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