Rice Orders Probe of Security in Baghdad

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice listens as French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner speaks during a joint news conference at the State Department in Washington, Friday, Sept. 21, 2007. The United States and France agree on how to pressure on Iran to abandon nuclear its nuclear ambitions, Rice said Friday. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (Susan Walsh - AP)

Iraqi and U.S. witnesses have offered widely divergent accounts of what happened: Iraqis say the Blackwater guards opened fire without provocation and the Americans say the security detail was responding to an attack.

Blackwater has not made any comment about the incident since releasing a statement on Monday that said its employees acted properly in responding to an attack.

McCormack said the Blackwater guards who fired weapons in Sunday's incident, about a third of the 15-20 strong-team protecting the convoy, are "standing down" from their jobs at least temporarily. He did not say whether they would return to duty.

The al-Maliki aide said some of the Blackwater guards believed to have been involved in the shooting were Iraqis and could face prosecution in Iraqi courts.

Blackwater had conducted about 1,800 security details for diplomatic visits outside the Green Zone since January and that there had been very few incidents in which weapons were discharged, he said.

The joint U.S-Iraqi commission is charged with going over separate U.S. and Iraqi investigations of Sunday's incident, establishing a common set of facts and then suggesting how to proceed. It will be headed on the U.S. side by Patricia Butenis, the No. 2 at the embassy in Baghdad, and on the Iraqi side by a senior official from the Defense Ministry.

It is expected to soon convene for the first time, according to State Department officials who say it will likely propose changes to the existing rules that date from the U.S.-led occupation government and give private contractors immunity from Iraqi laws.

Security contractors are also not subject to U.S. military law under which U.S. troop face prosecution for killing or abusing Iraqis.

The al-Maliki aide said the several options were under study, including a new set of regulations and rules of engagement for security convoys. He gave no details but said security companies would have to "accept Iraqi law," and Blackwater would likely have to pay compensation to the victims or their survivors.

Sunday's killings have outraged many Iraqis, who have long resented the presence of armed Western security contractors, considering them an arrogant mercenary force that abuses Iraqis in their own country.

But the United States relies heavily on Blackwater and the two security companies, Dyncorp and Triple Canopy, to protect American diplomats and civilian officials since the 160,000-strong American military force is already stretched thin trying to subdue Sunni and Shiite extremists.

Blackwater protects U.S. diplomats in Baghdad and Hilla, while Dyncorp works in the northern Kurdish areas of Iraq and Triple Canopy operates in the predominantly Shia south, according to McCormack.

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Associated Press Writer Robert Reid in Baghdad contributed to this story.

(This version CORRECTS correct that the correct convoys resumed Friday after being suspended Tuesday, instead of a two-day suspension.)