Washington Post: US demands Baghdad immunity for American contractors
Iraq-USA, Politics, 6/15/2004

The Washington Post daily yesterday quoted Iraqi sources as saying that the new Iraqi government resists American demands to offer thousands of the American civilian contractors immunity from the Iraqi judicial authority similar to the immunity currently enjoyed by the American forces.

According to the paper, if the Iraqi government accepts this request the American contractors will enjoy a special legal status so that they will be out of the American military judicial authority and the Iraqi judicial system.

Even after handing the authority to the Iraqis on June 30, the American forces will be outside the scale of the Iraqi law, according to the resolution of the UN Security Council issued on June 8th as well as according to the reciprocated messages between the Iraqi government and Washington, in which the Iraqi prime minister Eyad Allawi demanded continued presence of the American forces in Iraq.

The UN Security Council resolution and Allawi request do not include civil contractors, besides these contractors are not subjected, according to the paper, to the American judicial authority despite the fact many of them are working for the US defense department.

There are between 20-30 thousands foreign contractors of scores of nationalities in Iraq, working security guards, engineers and businessmen. The paper stressed that the American request only includes foreign contractors.

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