US State Department investigators offered immunity deals to the Blackwater security guards accused of killing 17 Iraqis in Baghdad, American media reported Tuesday. If confirmed, the immunity could complicate efforts to prosecute the guards -- especially since the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security did not have the authority to grant immunity, unnamed government officials told The New York Times.
Most of the guards involved in the shooting were promised they would not be prosecuted for anything said in their interviews with investigators as long as their statements were truthful, the nespaper reported. US Justice Department prosecutors who do have the authority to grant immunity had no advance knowledge of the arrangement, the officials told the Times.
"If there's any truth to this story, then the decision was made without consultation with senior officials in Washington," an unnamed State Department official told the Times. Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported that FBI agents who took charge of the investigation earlier this month cannot use any of the information obtained from questions by the earlier State Department probe.
The Associated Press has reported the immunity deal has delayed a criminal inquiry into the Sept. 16 killings. "Once you give immunity, you can't take it away," said a senior law enforcement official familiar with the investigation.
