U.S. official urges government to protect Iraqi judges

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The coordinator of the rule of law of U.S. justice department on Tuesday called on the Iraqi government to protect the Iraqi judges and prosecutors to guarantee the Iraqi justice integrity. “The Iraqi government should protect the Iraqi judges and prosecutors to guarantee their integrity and protect then from other pressures,” Philippe Linch from the U.S. embassy in Baghdad told IraqiNews.com, noting that the Iraqi justice managed to make a great job in coincidence with the implementation of the law-imposing plan through releasing non convicted detainees. “Elements pf Blackwater security company will be tried for killing Iraqi civilians, because the crime took place during the UN mandate,” he added. In September 2007, Blackwater security guards were involved in a shooting in downtown Baghdad in which at least 17 Iraqis were killed. After the shooting, the Iraqi government demanded that Blackwater be expelled from the country and that its guards be held accountable. Despite the protests, the State Department has continued to use Blackwater in Baghdad, although the Justice Department has been conducting a criminal investigation of the shooting. The fact that Blackwater continued to operate in Iraq contributed to the Iraqi government’s hard-line stance on the legal immunity issue in the negotiations. Whether the Iraqi government will now begin its own criminal investigation of the Blackwater shooting is unclear, administration officials and contracting industry executives said. SH (S)/SR 14