10-31-07, 10:38 am

Baghdad, Oct 30 (Prensa Latina) The Iraqi government approved on Tuesday a bill that will remove immunity from foreign security companies in that Arab country, cabinet spokesman Ali Debbagh reported.

The foreign private companies had been exempt from complying with all regulations until the measure's approval, and all of them remained uncontrolled by the authorities.

With authorities' commitments to foreign interests, the Executive was in a complex situation to make the decision, exacerbated by the population 's rejection of that kind of company.

The government approved a bill on Tuesday that puts all foreign security companies under the authority of the Iraqi law. Those companies will no longer be protected by immunity,' an official source confirmed to the media.

The massacre of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, perpetrated by the US Blackwater security company, turned into a public accusation against those kind of entities, which play by their own rules.

Blackwater was created in 1997, headquartered in North Carolina, and its personnel is estimated at 20,000 ex military agents or members trained to render that kind of service.

For those who criticize it, the company is the largest known mercenary corps, and trains around 40,000 army or agency members a year.

It is the current main contractor of the US Defense Department.

From Prensa Latina