Use a gun, go to pri get immunity from Bush’s State Department

Yet another bump on the road towards the naming of a town square in Baghdad after George W. Bush. The shooters in Blackwater’s mass killing — in a Baghdad square — were granted immunity from prosecution by the Bush administration:

Potential prosecution of Blackwater guards allegedly involved in the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians last month may have been compromised because the guards received immunity for statements they made to State Department officials investigating the incident, federal law enforcement officials said yesterday.

FBI agents called in to take over the State Department’s investigation two weeks after the Sept. 16 shootings cannot use any information gleaned during questioning of the guards by the department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, which is charged with supervising security contractors.

Some of the Blackwater guards have subsequently refused to be interviewed by the FBI, citing promises of immunity from State, one law enforcement official said. The restrictions on the FBI’s use of their initial statements do not preclude prosecution by the Justice Department using other evidence, the official said, but “they make things a lot more complicated and difficult.”

The Iraqis might not be so understanding, with 17 of their own dead:

The Iraqi government on Tuesday approved draft legislation lifting immunity for foreign private security companies, sending the measure to parliament, a spokesman said.

The question of immunity has been one of the most serious dispute between the U.S. and the Iraqi government since a Sept. 16 shooting involving Blackwater USA guards that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead.

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Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the draft law approved Tuesday would overturn an immunity order known as Decree 17 that was issued by L. Paul Bremer, who ran the American occupation government until June 2004.

“It will be sent to the parliament within the coming days to be ratified,” he told The Associated Press.

Al-Dabbagh did not single out Blackwater but said: “According to this law, all security companies will subjected to the Iraqi criminal law and must obey all the country’s legal regulations such as: registration, customs, visas, etcetera.”