October 30, 2007
Immunity Deal For Blackwater Guards Hampers FBI's Efforts
UPDATED.
In an apparent deal that could impede the government's ability to prosecute Blackwater guards suspected of being involved in a shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead last month, AP reports that State Department investigators granted immunity to employees of the private security contractor in exchange for statements they made regarding the case.
"As a result, it will likely be months before the United States can -- if ever -- bring criminal charges in the case that has infuriated the Iraqi government," AP wrote when it broke the story yesterday.
But CNN is reporting today that, according to two anonymous State Department officials, State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security did not offer "blanket immunity" to the guards that would prohibit the FBI from pressing criminal charges. "We want to see anyone who violated laws or broke rules held accountable," said one official, who claimed to lack authorization to speak on the matter. "Nothing that was done prevents anyone from being prosecuted if they broke the law."
But according to ABC News, the exact language of the "use immunity" agreement included at the beginning of each guard's sworn statement is as follows:
I understand this statement is being given in furtherance of an official administrative inquiry.... I further understand that neither my statements nor any information or evidence gained by reason of my statements can be used against me in a criminal proceeding, except that if I knowingly and willfully provide false statements or information, I may be criminally prosecuted for that action under 18 United States Code, Section 1001.
The New York Times reported this morning that State Department investigators did not have the authority to grant immunity during their queries last month, and Justice Department prosecutors "had no advance knowledge of the arrangement."
In today's State Department press briefing, agency spokesman Sean McCormack reiterated that State "cannot immunize an individual from federal prosecution." "We would not have asked the FBI and the Department of Justice to get involved in a case that we did not think that they could potentially prosecute," he added. USA Today's On Deadline has excerpts from the briefing.
The FBI took over State's probe of the Sept. 16 shooting incident involving a Blackwater diplomatic security convoy after DOJ officials realized they could not use the statements guards made to agency investigators to build a criminal case. The immunity protections allow the guards' statements to be used only for the internal government probe, not criminal prosecution, and the FBI has to reinterview all the subjects in the case.
The Washington Post quotes one law enforcement official who said some Blackwater guards have refused to comply with FBI investigators, "citing promises of immunity from State." That official added that although the immunity deals do not prevent prosecutors from charging guards based on other evidence obtained in the case, "they make things a lot more complicated and difficult."
News of the immunity deal prompted Democrats to cry foul this morning, with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy calling it the latest example of "the amnesty administration." The revelations also promise to add a fresh hurdle to U.S.-Iraqi relations, which have been damaged by the Blackwater scandal. The Iraqi cabinet today "approved a new draft law which puts all private security companies under the Iraqi law," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told Agence France-Presse. "These companies will not get immunity and will be subject to Iraqi law," al-Dabbagh said.
The head of the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security resigned last week in the wake of ongoing questions about the agency's oversight of private security contractors.
Previous coverage of Blackwater on The Gate can be found here, here, here and here.
