Investigate Blackwater incident before assigning blame: US
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US State Department said Tuesday it would await the results of an inquiry before assigning blame for the deaths of 10 Iraqi civilians killed in a shootout with a US private security firm.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack acknowledged Sunday's incident was "a particular emotional issue" in Iraq, where government officials have called for the Blackwater employees to be prosecuted.
The death toll from the shooting in the Al-Yarmukh district, which involved Blackwater guards escorting a US diplomatic convoy, has risen to nine civilians and one policeman, according to a medic at a Baghdad hospital. Thirteen people were wounded.
McCormack said the legal ramifications of the case "depend on the circumstances" and US officials were "not in a position to assign any blame."
The case, which has sparked a large controversy over the US use of private contractors in Iraq, requires a careful and transparent investigation, he added. "Until the end of the investigation you cannot assign responsibility."
The White House meanwhile kept at arm's length Tuesday from the boiling dispute.
"I would just say, on behalf of the administration, that any loss of innocent life is deeply regretted," said Dana Perino, US President George W. Bush's chief spokeswoman.
Perino referred questions about Blackwater, hired to protect US officials in Iraq including Ambassador Ryan Crocker, to the State Department and declined to say what the company's legal status is in Iraq.
"I know the Department of State has said that they are going to look into the matter and that they would be open and transparent," she said.
Iraq's interior ministry ordered the cancellation of the company's operating license after the incident.
Repeated calls to Blackwater in the United States for comment on the shooting and the reaction in Iraq have gone unanswered.
But in a statement reported by CNN on its website, the company said it had acted lawfully "in response to a hostile attack."
"Blackwater regrets any loss of life, but this convoy was violently attacked by armed insurgents, not civilians, and our people did their job to defend human life," the statement added, according to CNN.
US and Iraqi sources in Baghdad had said the shooting erupted after a bomb exploded near a US diplomatic convoy, but a US government incident report said armed insurgents fired on the convoy and Blackwater guards responded.
