State Department promised Blackwater USA bodyguards immunity from prosecution in its investigation of last month's Murder of 17 Iraqi civilia

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As a result, it will likely be months before the United States can — if ever — bring criminal charges in the case that has infuriated the Iraqi government.

"Once you give immunity, you can't take it away," said a senior law enforcement official familiar with the investigation.

A State Department spokesman did not have an immediate comment Monday. Both Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd and FBI spokesman Rich Kolko declined comment.

FBI agents were returning to Washington late Monday from Baghdad, where they have been trying to collect evidence in the Sept. 16 embassy convoy shooting without using statements from Blackwater employees who were given immunity.

Three senior law enforcement officials said all the Blackwater bodyguards involved — both in the vehicle convoy and in at least two helicopters above — were given the legal protections as investigators from the Bureau of Diplomatic Security sought to find out what happened. The bureau is an arm of the State Department.

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Yet another Mercenary Outfit Under Investigation

officials tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com that the investigation involves allegations of fraudulent overbilling against U.S. Protections and Investigations (USPI) of Houston, Texas.

The company has a multi-million-dollar contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to provide security for U.S.-funded road building projects in Afghanistan.

The company has also received millions of dollars to train Iraqi SWAT teams and parliamentary security in Baghdad, according to government contracting data.

Blackwater force in 56 shootings

Blackwater, a large, privately owned security contractor based in North Carolina, has provided security to diplomats on 1873 convoy runs in Iraq so far this year, and its personnel fired weapons 56 times, according to a statement by Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte.

The State Department did not release comparable 2007 numbers for other security companies.

But the Blackwater numbers show a far higher rate of shootings per convoy mission than experienced last year by one of the company's main competitors, DynCorp International. DynCorp reported 10 cases in about 1500 convoy runs.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that Blackwater's rate of shootings was at least twice as high as the rates for other companies providing similar services to the State Department in Iraq.

Iraqi Government Ban on Blackwater almost as much of a Joke as George Bush as president

American diplomats today resumed travel in Iraq in convoys escorted by Blackwater USA, the private American security contractor, less than a week after the Iraqi government banned the company following a shooting in which at least eight Iraqis were killed.

It was unclear, however, whether the Iraqi authorities had approved the decision to allow Blackwater to resume operations and what this resumption of convoy traffic means in the developing dispute between Iraqi and American officials over the use of private security contractors in Iraq. Mirembe Nantongo, a spokeswoman for the American Embassy, said a limited number of diplomats had traveled outside the heavily fortified Green Zone and were likely accompanied by Blackwater guards. “As a general rule, in a limited manner, Blackwater is operating,” she said.
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