Iraq: No Long-Term Role for Ex-Blackwater Units

FILE - In this April 4, 2004 file photo, plainclothes contractors working for Blackwater USA take...

FILE - In this April 4, 2004 file photo, plainclothes contractors working for Blackwater USA take part in a firefight as Iraqi demonstrators loyal to Muqtada Al Sadr attempt to advance on a facility being defended by U.S. and Spanish soldiers in Najaf, Iraq. The security firm once known as Blackwater Worldwide will continue protecting American diplomats in Iraq for months to come, far longer than has previously been acknowledged, even though the company has no license to operate in the country and has been told by the State Department that its contracts will not be renewed. (AP Photo/Gervasio Sanchez, FILE)

(AP)

Iraq's government spokesman insisted Tuesday that the former Blackwater Worldwide can have no long-term presence in the country and said authorities will continue to press for compensation for a deadly September 2007 shooting.

Ali al-Dabbagh confirmed that the company — now known as Xe — will have a presence at least until summer in some ground and air protection roles, but gave no other details of when the last former Blackwater units could be out of Iraq.

Iraq is currently making plans to take over some of the company's roles, such as helicopter patrols, but needs at least until May 2010 to train local units. He said a "company will extend its work" to help protect Iraqi airspace until next year, but he later clarified that he was not referring to the former Blackwater. He did not say what company could serve in the stopgap role.

"We do not want Blackwater to work in Iraqi airspace or land ... under one name or another," he said. "We will press for compensation."

Some Iraqis wounded in the Sept. 16, 2007 shooting in Baghdad's busy Nisoor Square said they were dismayed to hear the company will work in Iraq longer than previously thought.

After the Nisoor Square melee, which left 17 Iraqis dead and another 20 wounded, Iraqi officials ruled that North Carolina-based Blackwater would be barred from operating in the country. Despite the ban, the State Department renewed Blackwater's contract seven months later, in April 2008.

In January of this year, Iraqi authorities denied the company an operating license.

Hussein Jabir, a Baghdad lawyer hit by gunfire in Nisoor Square, says he was outraged at the Iraqi government for not taking a harder stance.

"The Blackwater personnel are mercenaries. The Iraqi government knows that very well," said Jabir, who still has bullet fragments in his arm and side.

The bloodshed strained ties between Iraq and the United States and raised questions about Washington's use of private security in Iraq and other conflict zones.