Red, White, And Blackwater

As I pointed out yesterday, the Bushies just executed McSame on Iraq policy with the deal to get out by the end of 2010. Obama's plan? Mid-2010. McSame's plan? Stay forever. But what's the deal with the hold up on the plan?

Turns out it's our old buddies at Blackwater.

Two senior U.S. officials said negotiators have made progress and are close to a deal. But they also said that some issues are unresolved and that troop withdrawals would be tied to conditions on the ground.

The U.S. military presence is spelled out by a U.N. mandate, which is to expire by the end of this year. Iraq and the United States want to replace that mandate with a status-of-forces agreement governing how U.S. troops will operate in Iraq.

The U.S. officials said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke with al-Maliki on Wednesday to try to resolve the issue of legal immunity for U.S. contractors working in Iraq.

The officials described the phone call as tense.

Under a provision put into place in the early days of the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq, security contractors have had immunity from Iraqi law.

The Iraqi government has criticized the blanket immunity because of incidents such as the fatal shootings of 17 people in Baghdad's Nusoor Square on September 16. Iraqi officials say Blackwater Worldwide contractors killed the 17.

It's insanity. We have an opportunity to leave Iraq and end this war, finally, after years of pointless deaths and trillion wasted, and it's being held up because of those assholes at Blackwater want a get out of jail free card for the murders they committed.

As Blue Texan over at FDL points out:

Selling out the Constitution to give telecoms immunity is bad enough. Selling out the troops to give Blackwater immunity is a whole new level of sickening.

Hey Obama campaign? Here's your clean-up hitter.