UN Panel Wants Iraq to Address Military Contractor Immunity

With the role of security contractors set to increase in Iraq, UN experts want the Iraqi government to settle their legal status once and for all.

Contractor numbers are expected to grow once American troops leave the country at the end of the year. Faiza Patel, head of the UN working group on the use of mercenaries, was at the UN today to present the group’s latest report. 

Patel says the 2007 killing of 17 Iraqi civilians in Nisoor Square allegedly carried out by Blackwater security guards, highlighted the legal challenges in holding private security companies accountable for crimes and rights abuses.

“Due to the coalition’s provisional authority grant of immunity to contractors, the alleged Blackwater perpetrators could not be prosecuted in Iraqi courts. “ she told reporters “Prosecution in the United States, the home country of Blackwater, now known as Xe, has also not yet produced satisfactory results. Four years after the incident, the criminal case against the Blackwater guards is still pending in US courts.”

In 2009,  the Iraq-US Status of Force Agreement (SOFA) ended the legal immunity for certain types of contractors. Patel says that while SOFA was an improvement, it was also unclear about which “category” of military contractors were exempt from prosecution in Iraq. 

But with US troops scheduled to withdraw from the country before the end of the year and SOFA no longer expected to be enforced, Patel says the immunity question needs to be addressed.

 “The status of foreign contractors in Iraq is quite unclear and this is a matter to which the working group believes the Iraqi government should pay urgent attention.”

The Obama administration decided to withdraw all US troops when it could not get an agreement on legal immunity from the Iraq government. But that decision will probably push the State department to rely on private security companies, so immunity will continue to be an issue.

U.S. Peace Group Meets With Iraqi Political Leaders

By Julianne LaJeunesse - Talk Radio News Service

A federally-funded U.S. peace group met with two Iraqi leaders Friday to talk about the country's current stability and what the United States might expect from January's parliament elections.

Iraqi political leaders Ayad Allawi and Saleh Muhamed al-Mutlaq spoke with the United States Institute of Peace, or USIP warning that Iraq cannot afford to be left on their own during a time when "political corruption is obvious." Mutlaq, a secular Sunni politician told guests at the conference, "If they go on like this, I think Iraq is going to face a problem."

"We have to admit that the stability that we are talking about, and the security that we are talking about is for a short time and it is fragile," Mutlaq said. "We have a neighbor who is training militias there and waiting for the time when the Americans leave Iraq...They said 'we will fill the vacuum'.''

That neighbor is Iran. In 2007, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech that U.S. political power in Iraq was collapsing and that: "Soon, we will see a huge power vacuum in the region. Of course, we are prepared to fill the gap, with the help of neighbors and regional friends like Saudi Arabia, and with the help of the Iraqi nation."

Mutlaq, like former Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, stressed that over the next few months, Iraq is going to need U.S. and international help as the country votes for their second national parliament since the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Mutlaq heads the Iraqi Front for National Dialogue, which is a group of individuals who contest the December 2005 general elections in Iraq. He said ensuring security during the January 2010 elections is essential to the nation's progress. Allawi agreed, saying he hopes the next trip to the polls will be "fraud-free, will have integrity and be free of intimidation, and free of rigging the ballot boxes."

"Our aspiration, really, is to build a country by Iraqis, for all Iraqis, excluding terrorists and extremists and those who have stained their hands with the blood of the Iraqi people," said Allawi, who helped manage Iraq's January 2005 elections.

"This is what we aspire [to], and this is where we need the understanding of the international community... it is a known fact, in the Middle East, the greater Middle East, a stable Iraq would spill over stability throughout the region, and vice-versa is also correct," he said.

The discussion was an addition to Ayad Allawi and Saleh Muhamed al-Mutlaq's "to do list" while in the country. The two met with Congress on Thursday to address the Status of Forces Agreement, or SOFA agreement, and to advocate for Iraqi exemption to U.N. Security Charter 7, which among other conditions, requires Iraq to pay reparations to Kuwait.

Iraqi Government Official: Iraqi Security Ready for U.S Withdrawal

By Celia Canon- Talk Radio News Service

On Monday, Dr. Rafe Al-Eissawi, Iraq’s deputy prime minister, made a speech at the Carnegie Endowment For International Peace Center in which he addressed the issue of U.S withdrawal from Iraq. Al-Eissawi insists that Iraqi security forces are ready to take over the protection of the country.

Al-Eissawi was optimistic that the Iraqi security forces could meet the requirements expected by the U.S to allow for the American withdrawal of its troops to optimize Iraqi stability and security after the 2010 Iraqi general elections that will determine the new members of the national parliament.

"Let me say this as plainly as I can: by August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end," announced U.S. President Barack Obama on February 28.

Speaking on his assessment of the withdrawal, Al-Eissawi said “We consider the Iraqi forces are capable of controlling the situation.”

Iraq has acknowledged and taken measures to fill the vacuum left by the rapid departure of American forces and the gradual dispersion of American influence, Al-Eissawi said. “We are fully aware of the challenges that may take place accompanying this control shift of transition from mixed Iraqi-American to purely Iraqi security forces.”

But Al-Eissawi recognized that the Iraqi security forces’ capacity to take over the security of Iraq would not come immediately but would rather require that the national forces remain under American auspices, saying that Iraq “may need the American force in the next period, focusing more and more on training and some logistic support, which is considered to make a great difference.”

According to Al-Eissawi, the effectiveness of the withdrawal depends upon “The necessity of commitment and implementation of the SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement that provides a framework of cooperation between two countries as one state stations troops in another state) between Iraq and America and the timing of withdrawal of the main troops from the main cities and the capacity building of the Iraqi security forces that will be able to cover the security vacuum that may take place accompanying the withdrawal.”

Iraq: A Fragile Area

Army Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, commander of Multinational Division-North and the 1st Armored Division in Iraq, refused three times to answer what he thought of the draw down of the troops during a live remote briefing held in the Pentagon. "You're asking me to speculate on that, and I won't," he said. Hertling also said he did not like the use of the term "draw down," and pointed out that a year ago, there were over 1800 attacks per month in the region that he is in charge of, and compared that to the mere 108 attacks that occurred only a month ago.

A year ago, Hertling said, the unemployment in the area was staggering, and the Iraqis seemed to be taking one step forward for each two steps back. Calling the area "fragile," he said that now they seem to be taking more of a "three or four steps forward," for each step back. Elaborating on the word "fragile," Hertling said there is an "evil and committed enemy" in the area, and that when they got there "nothing works right." There are no democratic process, he continued, no rule of law procedures, no capabilities to hold people accountable for contracts, and that there are agricultural concerns, and budget execution issues, adding that the enemy affects all of it. He mentioned that the accounting offices, although functional, are actually using paper ledgers to account for millions of dinars.

Agreeing readily that there have indeed been three incidents originating in the north, [two of the three individuals are subsequently on trial for murder (the third having been killed while in the act of murdering other soldiers)], Hertling brought up a story about a soldier that drowned trying to save another man. Iraqi soldiers that didn't even know the victim searched the freezing waters for over four hours trying to find the body, Hertling said. Those three incidents, he said, are not representative of the sixty thousand Iraqi troops that serve with American troops, every single day.

Mullen: I'll give the new President the "best advice I can"

This is the first administration transition during wartime in forty years, and traditionally, a crisis will occur during that period, said Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, during a press briefing at the Pentagon.

Mullen said he believes it’s critical to pursue all the issues in the CJCS Guidance memorandum, which includes defending vital National interests in the broader Middle East; Resetting, Reconstituting, and Revitalizing our Forces; and properly balancing our global strategic risk. In addition to these issues, he said, there is a whole range of other global concerns such as tensions in Eurasia and Africa, and the impact of the economic crisis.

The Joint Staff has done a lot of work to prepare, he said, and he’s comfortable they are meeting the goals of the transition to the new administration [of Barack Obama]. We serve one leader, he said, and that’s the sitting Commander in Chief.

During the question and answer period, Mullen said he assumes the pirates that captured the super oil tanker off the coast of Saudi Arabia on Saturday, November 15, will ask for a ransom. The piracy does not seem to be connected to al-Qaeda or terrorism, he said.

Dismantling the forces in Iraq is “very doable” but it’s not the sort of thing we can do overnight, Mullen said. In regards to “we have to be out by 2011,” Mullen said it’s in his view that three years is a long time, and conditions can change. We will continue to have discussions with them [the Iraqis], he said, and clearly it’s theoretically possible to pull the troops out by 2011 but conditions would dictate the outcome. We have 150,000 troops in Iraq right now, and a lot of equipment, Mullen said, and clearly we want to be able to withdraw the troops safely.

It is his understanding, Mullen continued, that the Status of Forces Agreement troop withdrawal specifics is in regard to American troops, and does include removal from certain cities by the year 2009. Using Baghdad as an example, Mullen said they’ve been improving security and are attempting to turn one city over at a time [to the Iraqis].

Upon being directly questioned and asked for a yes or no answer, Mullen simply answered “yes” to the specifics of the SOFA agreement: yes, American troops have to be out of Iraq by 2011 regardless of conditions.

As for the timetable of “16 months” (the policy stated by President-Elect Obama), Mullen said that he looks forward to the discussion he will have with Obama, and will give him the “best advice I can.” He continued, saying, “I will not pre-state” what that conversation will entail.