Armed Guards in Iraq Occupy a Legal Limbo

Providing extreme security measures for a few has become a problematic policy in Iraq. Iraqis complain about private-security contractors, particularly companies responsible for several shootings and injuries of Iraqi citizens. Early in the Iraq war, the US exempted armed contract guards from Iraqi law, and the Pentagon has not yet developed rules for security contractors, as so urged by the US Congress. Iraq’s prime minister called for one firm in particular, Blackwater USA, to suspend its operations, but the US has since lifted the ban. “The debate flares up after each lethal episode in Iraq, but there has been no agreement on how to police the private soldiers who roam Iraq in the employ of the United States government,” write John Broder and James Risen for the New York Times. Even some security firms express a desire for clear regulations on a code of conduct, jurisdiction, oversight and other legal matters. Both the US and Iraq have little control over security, law or politics in the country’s borders. – YaleGlobal