The Mercenary and the Law

There has been much media and legal speculation about how the State Department decided that they had the authority to grant private security consultants Blackwater USA functional immunity from prosecution over the deaths of 17 Iraqis on Sept. 17. It seems to have raised a fog of confusion over whether the U.S. government has the right to sue a private security firm responsible for potentially criminal activity in Iraq.

Which is interesting, another private security firm is being sued in the U.S. courts for potentially criminal activity in Iraq. The difference? The person who died was American. In October 2005, Army Specialist Christopher Monroe was hit and killed in Iraq by a vehicle driven by employees of Erinys International, a British-run and -staffed security firm that is currently estimated to have 1,000 personnel in-country. On the night of the accident, their vehicles were reportedly traveling at 80 mph down a darkened road with only parking lights. Monroe's family are now suing Erinys through the Houston courts. In a bitter twist, in January 2006, four month's after Monroe's death, Erinys opened a new office in Houston, specializing in "challenging oil and gas environments."

But the case could create a legal and political dilemma. Blackwater's defense could depend on saying the American courts have no jurisdiction, but that would cripple the prosecution over the death of an American serviceman. A decision either way could cause howls of outrage, either from security firms who will say they are being hamstrung by civilian law, or private citizens fearing an unfettered mercenary army, protected by legal precedent.