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2 IRAQI WOMEN KILLED IN SHOOTING BY SECURITY CONVOY
Joao Silva for The New York Times
New York Times
Oct 10 2007
An Iraqi boy peered Tuesday inside a car that was towed to a Baghdad
police station after two women inside were killed.
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By ANDREW E. KRAMER and JAMES GLANZ Published: October 10, 2007
BAGHDAD, Oct. 9 - Two women died here on Tuesday when their white
Oldsmobile was riddled by automatic gunfire from guards for a private
security company, just weeks after a shooting by another company
strained relations between the United States and Iraq.
An Armenian priest viewed the damaged Oldsmobile Tuesday near a police
station in Baghdad.
The guards involved in the Tuesday shooting were working for an
Australian-run security company. But the people they were assigned
to protect work under the same United States government agency whose
security guards sprayed bullets across a crowded Baghdad square on
Sept. 16, an episode that caused an uproar among Iraqi officials and
is still being investigated by the United States.
In the Tuesday shooting, as many as 40 bullets struck the car, killing
the driver and the woman in the front seat on the passenger side. A
woman and a boy in the back seat survived, according to witnesses and
local police officials in the Karada neighborhood, where the shooting
took place on a boulevard lined with appliance stores, tea shops and
money changers.
American government officials said the guards had been hired to
protect financial and policy experts working for an organization under
contract with the United States Agency for International Development,
a quasi-independent State Department agency that does extensive aid
work in Iraq.
The organization, RTI International, is in Iraq to carry out what
is ultimately a State Department effort to improve local government
and democratic institutions. But a Bush administration official said
the State Department bore no responsibility for overseeing RTI's
security operations.
"A.I.D. does not direct the security arrangements of its contractors,"
the official said. "These groups are contractually responsible for
the safety and security of their employees. That responsibility falls
entirely on the contractor."
A priest and relatives near the scene said that all of the people in
the car were Armenian Christians, who make up a small minority group in
Iraq. The Oldsmobile was shot once in the radiator, witnesses said,
in front of a plumbing supply store as it approached a convoy of
white sport utility vehicles 50 yards away.
As the car kept rolling, a barrage of gunfire suddenly tore through
its hood, roof and windshield, as well as the passenger side.
The guards who were in the convoy work for Unity Resources Group,
an Australian-run company that has its headquarters in Dubai and is
registered in Singapore, according to a statement by the company.
Unity Resources was hired by RTI to provide security in Iraq.
In its statement, Unity Resources said that according to its initial
information, the car had approached the convoy "at speed" and failed
to stop in response to hand signals and a warning flare.
"Finally shots were fired at the vehicle and it stopped," the
company said.
The episode's connection with the United States Agency for
International Development is one of several parallels to the Sept. 16
shootings, in which the Iraqi government says 17 Iraqis died and 27
were wounded.
The Sept. 16 episode began when a convoy operated by Blackwater USA,
an American private security company hired to protect the aid agency's
officials, entered Nisour Square in central Baghdad and fired several
bullets toward a car the guards apparently considered a threat.
In the Tuesday shooting, like the one on Sept. 16, the car drifted
forward after the initial burst, prompting guards to unleash a barrage
of gunfire. And there were no government officials or policy experts
in either of the convoys: the Nisour Square convoy was controlling
traffic as part of a larger operation, and the convoy in Karada was
on a routine movement that involved only security guards, according
to American officials.
Although the United States Embassy in Baghdad has said almost nothing
about the Nisour Square episode while an American investigation grinds
on, the Iraqi government has said its own investigation concluded
that the shootings were an act of "deliberate murder" and called on
the Blackwater guards to be prosecuted.
Ali Jafar, a traffic policeman posted near the Karada shooting,
said he thought the similarities between the cases were undeniable.
"They are killing the people just like what happened in Nisour Square,"
Mr. Jafar said. "They are butchering the Iraqis."
The new shootings happened at an extremely difficult time for the State
Department, which relies heavily on Blackwater to protect its diplomats
whenever they work outside the fortified Green Zone. As a result of new
restrictions placed on Blackwater after the Nisour Square shootings,
the State Department's numerous programs for rebuilding Iraqi
government and technical institutions have been seriously hampered.
Embassy officials have vowed to continue their operations even as they
increase oversight of Blackwater operations. But Tuesday's episode
appears to show that the new oversight comes with many loopholes:
Unity Resources is not working directly for the State Department,
but for RTI International, which has been contracted by the aid agency
to provide experts on local governing.
Skip to next paragraph Enlarge This Image
Joao Silva for The New York Times Two Armenian Christian women were
killed in the car.
Reach of War Go to Complete Coverage " In fact, an American Embassy
spokesman said, the State Department has no say in the operations of
security companies employed by government contractors. "Their contract
might be with A.I.D., but that doesn't shed any light on their choice
of security contractor," he said.
A spokesman for Unity Resources, Martin Simich, said Tuesday that
he was unsure whether the guards involved in the shooting had been
interviewed by American authorities.
On Tuesday, the convoy of white S.U.V.'s was stopped in the eastbound
lane of Karada Street at an intersection with an alley lined with low
concrete homes, witnesses said. A man who works at the plumbing shop,
who gave his name only as Muhammad, said the Oldsmobile was approaching
the convoy from behind.
He said he heard no warnings. "They shot from the back door," he
said. "The door opened and they fired."
Two witnesses said they heard a single shot first, which apparently
punctured the Oldsmobile's radiator, spilling coolant onto the street
about 50 yards from where the convoy was parked. As the car continued
rolling, the guards opened up with a barrage of sustained automatic
fire. The car finally came to a stop about 10 yards from the convoy
at a point that, three hours later, was marked by blood stains,
broken glass and tufts of brown hair.
The plumbing shop employee said the convoy moved out right away,
without checking to see what damage had been done or to offer
medical help.
The Oldsmobile was towed to a nearby police station.
The priest and relatives near the scene identified the driver as
Maruni Uhanees, 59, and the dead passenger as Jeniva Jalal, 30.
As twilight set in, family members gathered beside the car in a dirt
alley outside the police station, staring at the blood and hair on
the inside of the windshield.
A brother-in-law of the driver, Hrair Vartanian, said Ms. Uhanees
was the mother of three grown daughters. As he spoke, one daughter
arrived and looked at the blood stains, crying softly.
Joao Silva for The New York Times
New York Times
Oct 10 2007
An Iraqi boy peered Tuesday inside a car that was towed to a Baghdad
police station after two women inside were killed.
Sign In to E-Mail or Save This Print Single Page Reprints Share
Del.icio.usDiggFacebookNewsvinePermalink
By ANDREW E. KRAMER and JAMES GLANZ Published: October 10, 2007
BAGHDAD, Oct. 9 - Two women died here on Tuesday when their white
Oldsmobile was riddled by automatic gunfire from guards for a private
security company, just weeks after a shooting by another company
strained relations between the United States and Iraq.
An Armenian priest viewed the damaged Oldsmobile Tuesday near a police
station in Baghdad.
The guards involved in the Tuesday shooting were working for an
Australian-run security company. But the people they were assigned
to protect work under the same United States government agency whose
security guards sprayed bullets across a crowded Baghdad square on
Sept. 16, an episode that caused an uproar among Iraqi officials and
is still being investigated by the United States.
In the Tuesday shooting, as many as 40 bullets struck the car, killing
the driver and the woman in the front seat on the passenger side. A
woman and a boy in the back seat survived, according to witnesses and
local police officials in the Karada neighborhood, where the shooting
took place on a boulevard lined with appliance stores, tea shops and
money changers.
American government officials said the guards had been hired to
protect financial and policy experts working for an organization under
contract with the United States Agency for International Development,
a quasi-independent State Department agency that does extensive aid
work in Iraq.
The organization, RTI International, is in Iraq to carry out what
is ultimately a State Department effort to improve local government
and democratic institutions. But a Bush administration official said
the State Department bore no responsibility for overseeing RTI's
security operations.
"A.I.D. does not direct the security arrangements of its contractors,"
the official said. "These groups are contractually responsible for
the safety and security of their employees. That responsibility falls
entirely on the contractor."
A priest and relatives near the scene said that all of the people in
the car were Armenian Christians, who make up a small minority group in
Iraq. The Oldsmobile was shot once in the radiator, witnesses said,
in front of a plumbing supply store as it approached a convoy of
white sport utility vehicles 50 yards away.
As the car kept rolling, a barrage of gunfire suddenly tore through
its hood, roof and windshield, as well as the passenger side.
The guards who were in the convoy work for Unity Resources Group,
an Australian-run company that has its headquarters in Dubai and is
registered in Singapore, according to a statement by the company.
Unity Resources was hired by RTI to provide security in Iraq.
In its statement, Unity Resources said that according to its initial
information, the car had approached the convoy "at speed" and failed
to stop in response to hand signals and a warning flare.
"Finally shots were fired at the vehicle and it stopped," the
company said.
The episode's connection with the United States Agency for
International Development is one of several parallels to the Sept. 16
shootings, in which the Iraqi government says 17 Iraqis died and 27
were wounded.
The Sept. 16 episode began when a convoy operated by Blackwater USA,
an American private security company hired to protect the aid agency's
officials, entered Nisour Square in central Baghdad and fired several
bullets toward a car the guards apparently considered a threat.
In the Tuesday shooting, like the one on Sept. 16, the car drifted
forward after the initial burst, prompting guards to unleash a barrage
of gunfire. And there were no government officials or policy experts
in either of the convoys: the Nisour Square convoy was controlling
traffic as part of a larger operation, and the convoy in Karada was
on a routine movement that involved only security guards, according
to American officials.
Although the United States Embassy in Baghdad has said almost nothing
about the Nisour Square episode while an American investigation grinds
on, the Iraqi government has said its own investigation concluded
that the shootings were an act of "deliberate murder" and called on
the Blackwater guards to be prosecuted.
Ali Jafar, a traffic policeman posted near the Karada shooting,
said he thought the similarities between the cases were undeniable.
"They are killing the people just like what happened in Nisour Square,"
Mr. Jafar said. "They are butchering the Iraqis."
The new shootings happened at an extremely difficult time for the State
Department, which relies heavily on Blackwater to protect its diplomats
whenever they work outside the fortified Green Zone. As a result of new
restrictions placed on Blackwater after the Nisour Square shootings,
the State Department's numerous programs for rebuilding Iraqi
government and technical institutions have been seriously hampered.
Embassy officials have vowed to continue their operations even as they
increase oversight of Blackwater operations. But Tuesday's episode
appears to show that the new oversight comes with many loopholes:
Unity Resources is not working directly for the State Department,
but for RTI International, which has been contracted by the aid agency
to provide experts on local governing.
Skip to next paragraph Enlarge This Image
Joao Silva for The New York Times Two Armenian Christian women were
killed in the car.
Reach of War Go to Complete Coverage " In fact, an American Embassy
spokesman said, the State Department has no say in the operations of
security companies employed by government contractors. "Their contract
might be with A.I.D., but that doesn't shed any light on their choice
of security contractor," he said.
A spokesman for Unity Resources, Martin Simich, said Tuesday that
he was unsure whether the guards involved in the shooting had been
interviewed by American authorities.
On Tuesday, the convoy of white S.U.V.'s was stopped in the eastbound
lane of Karada Street at an intersection with an alley lined with low
concrete homes, witnesses said. A man who works at the plumbing shop,
who gave his name only as Muhammad, said the Oldsmobile was approaching
the convoy from behind.
He said he heard no warnings. "They shot from the back door," he
said. "The door opened and they fired."
Two witnesses said they heard a single shot first, which apparently
punctured the Oldsmobile's radiator, spilling coolant onto the street
about 50 yards from where the convoy was parked. As the car continued
rolling, the guards opened up with a barrage of sustained automatic
fire. The car finally came to a stop about 10 yards from the convoy
at a point that, three hours later, was marked by blood stains,
broken glass and tufts of brown hair.
The plumbing shop employee said the convoy moved out right away,
without checking to see what damage had been done or to offer
medical help.
The Oldsmobile was towed to a nearby police station.
The priest and relatives near the scene identified the driver as
Maruni Uhanees, 59, and the dead passenger as Jeniva Jalal, 30.
As twilight set in, family members gathered beside the car in a dirt
alley outside the police station, staring at the blood and hair on
the inside of the windshield.
A brother-in-law of the driver, Hrair Vartanian, said Ms. Uhanees
was the mother of three grown daughters. As he spoke, one daughter
arrived and looked at the blood stains, crying softly.