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Blackwater offered immunity: report

US State Department investigators offered immunity deals to the Blackwater security guards accused of fatally shooting 17 Iraqis in Baghdad, US media reported yesterday.

The move could reignite the controversy over the shootings in the Iraqi capital on Sept. 16 and the role of private security firms such as Blackwater USA in the war-torn country.

If confirmed, the immunity could complicate efforts to prosecute the guards -- especially since the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security did not have the authority to grant immunity, unnamed government officials told the New York Times.

Most of the guards involved in the shooting were promised they would not be prosecuted for anything said in their interviews with investigators as long as their statements were truthful, the Times reported.

US Justice Department prosecutors, who do have the authority to grant immunity, had no advance knowledge of the arrangement, the officials told the Times.

"If there's any truth to this story, then the decision was made without consultation with senior officials in Washington," an unnamed State Department official told the Times.

The Washington Post reported that FBI agents who took charge of the investigation early this month cannot use any of the information obtained from questions by the earlier State Department probe.

One law enforcement official told the Post that some of the Blackwater guards have refused interviews with FBI agents, citing the earlier immunity promises.

The deals "make things a lot more complicated and difficult," the official told the Post.

"You can't use the fruits of that statement," another law enforcement official told the Post. "It doesn't prevent them from talking [to the FBI], but ... why run the risk? I think any lawyer would advise against it."

Blackwater guards protecting a State Department convoy opened fire in a crowded Baghdad square on Sept. 16. Seventeen civilians were killed in the shootout.

The Iraqi government later demanded that Blackwater be barred from operating in the country.

Blackwater boss Erik Prince has rejected an official Iraqi report that said the killings were unprovoked, insisting his men were fired upon.

Blackwater guards cannot be tried in US military courts, and it is unclear if they can be tried in a US court for an alleged crime committed abroad.

On Oct. 24 the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced it had revoked the immunity from prosecution granted to all private security companies operating in Iraq, originally allowed by US overseer Paul Bremer in 2004. However, a new law has not been introduced to replace it.
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