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" WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It was the diplomatic equivalent of showing a stiff middle finger to the Iraqi government: the U.S. Department of State's extension of a contract with the private security firm Blackwater to protect American diplomats in Baghdad.
The contract was set to lapse on May 7 and its renewal came against the background of a pending FBI investigation into the killing of 17 Iraqi civilians by Blackwater operatives in a chaotic incident in a busy Baghdad square last September. Blackwater says its motorcade came under fire and it acted in self-defense.
In the wake of the shooting, condemned as unprovoked and indiscriminate by the Iraqis, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Blackwater should leave the country because "the abundance of evidence against it makes it unfit to stay in Iraq." He backed down later and agreed to await the result of investigations into the killings."
Two faces of Blackwater: Bernd Debusmann | Special Coverage | Reuters
The contract was set to lapse on May 7 and its renewal came against the background of a pending FBI investigation into the killing of 17 Iraqi civilians by Blackwater operatives in a chaotic incident in a busy Baghdad square last September. Blackwater says its motorcade came under fire and it acted in self-defense.
In the wake of the shooting, condemned as unprovoked and indiscriminate by the Iraqis, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Blackwater should leave the country because "the abundance of evidence against it makes it unfit to stay in Iraq." He backed down later and agreed to await the result of investigations into the killings."
Two faces of Blackwater: Bernd Debusmann | Special Coverage | Reuters