State Department on Blackwater
Posted: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 2:45 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
White House, Security
From NBC's Libby Leist
The US and Iraq have agreed to establish a joint commission to examine the Blackwater USA incident in Baghdad last weekend, and to suggest improvements in security and safety procedures followed by security contractors guarding US diplomats in Iraq, the State Department announced this afternoon.
The joint commission will not be investigating the incident, however, spokesman Tom Casey said. Instead, the members will try to come to an agreement on what happened based on the findings of separate investigations conducted by Iraqi and US law enforcement officials. Casey was confident an understanding could be reached despite the widely varying accounts of the incident.
A senior state department official added, "The purpose of this is not to do on-the-ground investigating or forensics. The purpose of this is to make policy recommendations… Part of that means they have to understand this incident and understand what happened and have some common basis for doing that."
The official said the commission was likely to look at questions like:
-- how can the US better coordinate with local Iraqi police and military when a State Department convoy leaves the Green Zone?
-- what is the legal mandate governing the contractors?
-- other jurisdictional issues
In a phone call on Monday to Prime Minister Maliki, Secretary of State Rice said she stressed the need for State Department personnel to operate safely outside of the Green Zone, and she hoped the US and Iraq could work together on how to do that.
Meanwhile, Blackwater security guards are still expected to continue their work as the Commission proceeds, Casey said.
