U.N. to look into Iraq deaths
The U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings said Friday that he planned to investigate deaths caused by the U.S. military and contractors in Iraq, including the recent Blackwater case.
Private security firm Blackwater has been under intense scrutiny since the shooting deaths of at least 17 Iraqis last month in Baghdad.
Philip Alston, the U.N. special rapporteur, said at a news conference that the United States was among the few countries that had agreed to have him visit them as part of his mandate to investigate allegations of extrajudicial killings.
“The range of issues remains open,” he said.
Alston, an Australian law professor at New York University, reports to the U.N. Human Rights Council, a body Washington has criticized for focusing too much on Israel.
Alston said he was frequently asked why he visited certain countries, and said that many countries he would like to visit refused to invite him.
He listed some, including Human Rights Council members Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Russia and China.
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