U.S. to tighten rules for Iraq contractors

By Andrew Gray and Randall Mikkelsen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon and U.S. State Department have agreed to tighten rules governing private security contractors in Iraq, giving a greater oversight role to the U.S. military, officials said on Tuesday.

The proposed changes emerged from a review triggered by a shooting incident in Baghdad last month in which security guards from U.S. security firm Blackwater, working for the State Department, are accused of having killed 17 Iraqis.

Efforts to prosecute guards involved in the incident could be complicated by a grant of limited immunity offered by State Department investigators, U.S. officials also said on Tuesday.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates met on Tuesday to discuss a working group's recommendations to give the U.S. military "considerably more involvement in contractor operations," the Pentagon said.

"All this stuff needs to be tightened up," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told a news briefing.

However, the agreement appeared to fall short of a deal putting contractors under the command of the military, as Pentagon officials had suggested.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said from a practical standpoint, it was decided not to put contractors under military command.

"Once they did an analysis of it, they decided this was not something they wanted to take on," said McCormack.

Gates and U.S. commanders have expressed concern that contractors' actions could undermine the U.S. mission in Iraq.

"If we can agree on a common set of standards, common rules for the use of force and can agree that there will be coordinated movements of contractors ... that may suffice," Morrell said.

Iraq says there are more than 180 mainly U.S. and European security firms in the country, with estimates of the number of individual security contractors between 25,000 and 48,000.

SAME MISSION

Analysts have said the mission of security guards, who may be more inclined to threaten or use force to protect their clients, can conflict with the broader U.S. military mission of winning over the Iraqi population to defeat insurgents.

"We want everybody operating for the sake of the same mission," Morrell said. "Invariably, State Department contractors are going to have to assume greater risk."

Morrell said the working group would take its plans to Baghdad next month for approval by military commanders and Gates hoped to have the new arrangements finalized by the Thanksgiving holiday on November 22.