Charges uncertain in Blackwater inquiry

The government has not decided whether to prosecute Blackwater Worldwide bodyguards for the September shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

The FBI is continuing its investigation of the Sept. 16 shootings, and prosecutors are far from reaching conclusions necessary to decide whether criminal charges might be filed in the case.

"This is an ongoing investigation and, therefore, it is inappropriate to discuss or speculate on any decisions with respect to possible prosecutions," Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said. "We have not yet reached that juncture."

It's not clear whether the Justice Department will ever be able to bring criminal charges. Blackwater guards involved in the shooting at Nisoor Square in west Baghdad initially were given limited immunity from prosecution by State Department investigators in exchange for their statements about what happened.

Several officials spoke in response to reports in The New York Times and The Washington Post that the FBI has concluded that the shootings of 14 of the 17 victims were an unjustified use of deadly force. Additionally, ABC News obtained a statement by one of the shooters, identified only as "Paul," who described several instances where he "engaged the individuals and stopped the threat."

"There has been a lot of chatter that one guy really lost it. I have seen these reports consistently," said one U.S. official, adding that at least one Blackwater guard — and maybe more — likely will be found to have violated rules of engagement on the scene.

One senior FBI official close to the investigation said he was aware of evidence that could indicate 14 of the shootings were unjustified. However, the official said that number was highly speculative and ultimately unreliable because it remains too early in the inquiry to draw any conclusions.

It's also still possible that criminal charges will be brought on behalf of all 17 of the victims, Justice Department officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk publicly about the investigation.

The FBI still has not given a prosecutorial report or case summary of its findings to Justice Department lawyers, the officials said. Such reports usually are issued before prosecutors decide whether to bring charges.

On Wednesday, the firearms used by the Blackwater detail arrived in the Washington area for scientific examination, leading one official with knowledge of the investigation to say that without ballistics tests it is unlikely that the FBI had reached a point where it could recommend charges against any of the Blackwater guards.

The official was familiar with accounts of the shooting that centered on the actions of one Blackwater guard who likely violated the State Department's rules of engagement, but the official could not speak to reports that the FBI had focused its probe on a Blackwater employee known as "turret gunner number 3."

North Carolina-based Blackwater is the largest private security firm protecting U.S. diplomats in Iraq. The company has said its security convoy was under attack before it opened fire.

In a statement Wednesday, Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said "the investigation remains under way and to the best of our understanding, the key people involved in the incident have yet to even speak with authorities."

She said the evidence was disclosed "before the FBI has completed its investigation, and Blackwater will thus withhold further comment until official findings by the FBI are made available."

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said if any Blackwater employees eventually are charged, "then I can assure you they're not going to be working on any contracts for the State Department in the future."

"It's still an ongoing investigation by the FBI," McCormack said.

Iraq is demanding the right to prosecute the Blackwater bodyguards. An investigation by the Iraqi government has concluded that Blackwater's men were unprovoked, a finding that echoed an initial incident report by U.S. Central Command that indicated "no enemy activity involved" in the incident. U.S. Central Command oversees military operations in Iraq.

The immunity deal has delayed a criminal inquiry into the killings and could undermine any effort to prosecute security contractors for their role in the incident that has infuriated the Iraqi government.

The FBI took over the case in early October, after prosecutors in the Justice Department's criminal division realized it could not bring charges against Blackwater guards based on their statements to the Diplomatic Security investigators. The immunity deal will not prevent the Blackwater guards from ever being prosecuted.

However, it forces prosecutors to prove that they did not use the information gleaned from the bodyguards' statements — or anything related to them — when seeking criminal charges. That means investigators will have to find other credible witnesses or evidence to make their case.

Meanwhile, Sen. Barack Obama, the Illinois Democrat running for president, sent a letter Wednesday to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, asking the Pentagon not to give Blackwater any more business without considering its performance.

"The American people deserve to know that their taxpayer dollars are not awarded to companies that may have engaged in criminal conduct and may have jeopardized our military's efforts to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end," Obama wrote.

___

Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.