Iraq Wraps Its Blackwater Investigation, Sez: Get Out!

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It’s hard to keep track of all the different Blackwater probes. But the government of Nouri al-Maliki says that its own investigation of the September 16 Nisour Square shootings has concluded, and it found that Blackwater committed “unprovoked and random killings,” CNN reports. Its stance on Blackwater, which the State Department is apparently no longer challenging, is that the private-security firm has to leave Iraq

Adviser Sami al-Askari told CNN al-Maliki has asked the U.S. State Department to “pull Blackwater out of Iraq.”

Al-Askari said the United States is still waiting for the findings of the American investigation, but the Iraqi leader and most Iraqi officials are “completely satisfied” with the findings of their probe and are “insisting” that Blackwater leave the country.

It was Askari who said over the weekend that the State Department is no longer “insisting on Blackwater staying” in Iraq — not a U.S. official. We’ll see if it actually happens. The Iraqi probe’s recommendations include the departure of Blackwater within six months.

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