Road Rage - Baghdad Style

Well it's not Blackwater this time but it is a private mercenary service.
Guards fire on car in Iraq, kill 2 women

BAGHDAD - Guards working for an Australian-owned security company fired on a car as it approached their convoy Tuesday, killing two women civilians before speeding away from the latest bloodshed blamed on the deadly mix of heavily armed protection details on Baghdad's crowded streets.

The deaths of the two Iraqi Christians — including one who used the white sedan as an unofficial taxi to raise money for her family — came a day after the Iraqi government handed U.S. officials a report demanding hefty payments and the ouster from Iraq of embattled Blackwater USA for a chaotic shooting last month that left at least 17 civilians dead.

The deaths Tuesday at a Baghdad intersection may sharpen demands to curb the expanding array of security firms in Iraq watching over diplomats, aid groups and others.

And this is rich:

RTI International, a group based in Research Triangle Park, N.C., that promotes governance projects in Iraq, said Unity was providing security for the group but none of its staff members "were involved or present when the incident occurred."

[.....]

"We are deeply saddened by this loss of life," RTI spokesman Patrick Gibbons said in a statement. "While we have every reason to believe that proper security protocols were followed, that is a matter to be determined by the investigation."

The bottom line is that there are no "proper security protocols" and no accountability for the psychopathic cowboys that work for these firms. The Iraqi's increasingly see the private mercenaries as terrorists.

"May God take revenge on those killers," Bougous said, crying outside the police station. "Now, who is going to raise them?"

"These are innocent people killed by people who have no heart or consciousness. The Iraqi people have no value to them," said a man who was part of a group of relatives gathered with a Christian priest at the local police station.

Iraqi anger has grown against the private security companies — nearly all based in the United States, Britian and other Western countries — as symbols of the lawlessness that has ravaged their country for more than four years.

Ali al-Dabbagh, Iraq's government spokesman, said: "Today's incident is part of a series of reckless actions by some security companies."

Yes wingers; they are undermining the mission.