U.S. limits diplomats' travel in Iraq

The embassy bars officials in Baghdad from traveling by land outside the Green Zone.
By Ned Parker
Los Angeles Times

BAGHDAD — -- The U.S. Embassy on Tuesday banned diplomats and other civilian government employees indefinitely from traveling by land outside the heavily protected Green Zone as American and Iraqi officials debated the legal status of foreign security contractors after a weekend shooting incident here in which eight civilians were reported killed.

The Iraqi government announced Tuesday that its initial investigation had determined that Blackwater USA guards fired without provocation on Iraqi civilians at a Baghdad traffic circle Sunday. The account contradicted statements by the North Carolina-based security company and the U.S. State Department that the guards had come under small-arms fire after a car bomb exploded.

Iraqi authorities said they would move to overhaul the nation's laws to end the immunity of foreign contractors from prosecution in Iraqi courts, a measure established by U.S.-led occupation officials after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The confrontation could prove to be a test of the sovereign powers of the Iraqi government when it clashes with American officials over prickly subjects such as U.S. dependence on private security contractors, whom many Iraqis loathe after repeated reports of wild shooting, reckless driving and abusive behavior.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said Tuesday that Blackwater guards should be held accountable for Sunday's killings, which took place while the security detail was assigned to protect a State Department motorcade.

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