A civil suit thought to be settled may not be over for Blackwater Worldwide. Some Iraqi families want more compensation for deaths and injuries caused by the companies contractors. Meanwhile, at least two Iraqis were killed and 20 more were wounded in new attacks.
An Iraqi civilian injured in the deadly 2007 Blackwater shootout has rejected a compensation offer from the company now known as Xe Services. Mahdi Abdul-Kadir asked parliament to cancel an agreement reached a few days ago, as the amounts offered were too low. At least one other victim has joined him. They also claim US officials pressured them to sign paperwork that was in English. Most families are said to have accepted the offer. Blackwater maintains their contractors acted appropriately.
The Accountability and Justice Committee (De-ba-athification) told politicians who have been barred from March elections to appeal their decisions directly instead of taking their grievances to the media. Saleh al-Mutlaq, who is a popular Sunni lawmaker, was among those excluded for ties to the banned Ba’ath Party and attributes the decision to politics.
In Mosul, a roadside bomb blast wounded three soldiers and a 14-year-old girl. Another explosion took place at a university where three Christians were injured. Six people were wounded in a blast in Somer.
A family or tribal spat left one dead and five injured in Khalis. Security forces arrested three suspects.
An unidentified body was found west of Kirkuk in Doura village.
A blast in Khan Bani Saad wounded a man and a woman.
U.S. forces arrested three al-Qaeda suspects in the Hamrim area.
Nine bombs were confiscated in Karbala.
Twenty-nine suspects were detained in Basra province.
Ninewa Gov. Atheel al-Nujaifi suggested Peshmerga forces work in the province only under the direction of the Iraqi army. The Peshmerga are Kurdish fighters that are preferred in heavily Kurdish areas of northern Iraq. Nujaifi ran an election campaign that was anti-Kurdish, has fought to keep Kurdish power in check, and has been accused of Arab favoritism. This move will not be looked upon favorably but Kurdish residents of the province.
In an effort to clean up its oil act, Iraq has joined the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. Iraq is consistently ranked one of the most corrupt nations in the world, but is driven to change that status.
