Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Wednesday that Blackwater should leave the country because of the mountain of evidence against the under-fire US security firm. His comments came amid growing anger among Iraqis that "above-the-law" security contractors are continuing to operate in Iraq while Blackwater is being probed over a deadly shooting 17 days ago.
"I believe the abundance of evidence against it makes it unfit to stay in Iraq," Maliki told a televised press conference in Baghdad. A New York Times report on Wednesday citing witnesses, Iraqi investigators and a US official said that as many as 17 people were killed and 24 wounded when Blackwater employees opened fire in central Baghdad on September 16.
Also, Iraq has ordered light military equipment from China worth $100 million because the United States is unable to meet Baghdad's requirements, the Washington Post reported President Jalal Talabani as saying.
"We're working hard just to supply our own troops," an administration official told the newspaper. "Our factories are working for our own troops. So it's true we don't have the ability to provide these rifles and other equipment they're looking for."
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