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The article reports that the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush will seek broad authority over combat operations in Iraq and legal immunity for private military contractors in that country as part of an agreement with Iraq's government allowing for the continued presence of U.S. troops. The United Nations mandate allowing U.S. forces in Iraq expires in December, 2008. The demands are expected to be strongly opposed by the Congress and Iraq's government.

The article reports that a security guard employed by the private military company DynCorp International shot and killed an Iraqi taxicab driver in Baghdad, Iraq on November 10, 2007. Witnesses and Iraqi investigators said the driver posed no threat to the U.S. convoy the guard was escorting. The latest in a string of shootings involving private military companies is expected to further strain the Iraqi government's ties with the U.S.

The article focuses on the operations and employees of the private military firm Blackwater USA in Iraq. The secretive company has become even more withdrawn since the September 16, 2007 incident where Blackwater security guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians. Anonymous Blackwater personnel state that many of them, especially those with long military experience, recognize the shooting was unjustified. This has created internal division within the company's Iraq operation.

The article examines the legal issues which have prevented prosecution of private military contractors in Iraq for such crimes as shooting civilians by either U.S. or Iraqi authorities. The U.S. State Department refuses to waive immunity granted contractors by the Coalition Provisional Authority for political reasons and distrust of the Iraqi legal system. There are constitutional issues which may prevent contractors from being tried under both U.S. military and civil law.

The article reports that guards from the private security firm Unity Resources Group shot and killed two Iraqi women in Baghdad, Iraq adding to the strain between Iraq's government and the U.S. over the role of private military contractors in Iraq. The guards were escorting a convoy of U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) personnel. The shooting took place on a crowded street. Over 40 shots were fired.

The article reports that interviews with witnesses and Iraqi and U.S. investigators of the September 16, 2007 incident where employees of the private security firm Blackwater USA shot and killed at least 11 Iraqi civilians contradict the company's explanation of the events. A Blackwater employee is said to have shot and killed an Iraqi automobile driver who failed to halt when ordered. When the dead man's car continued moving, Blackwater personnel began firing indiscriminately.

The article presents information on the use of private military contractors by the U.S., alongwith a note on Blackwater USA's killing of innocent civilians in Iraq. It is stated that contractors cannot be blamed for deaths of innocent people because they reflect the sins and virtues of their sponsoring governments. It is stated that the allegations about deaths of innocent civilians has been a serious issue for both Blackwater and the U.S. government forces from the start of the Iraq conflict.

The article reports that U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, stated that the loophole in the U.S. law, allows armed contractors in Iraq to escape legal implications, for crimes committed there, in an appearance before the U.S. Congress House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. It talks about shootings by employees of Blackwater USA on 16 September, 2007 and about company's public relations efforts.