November 2006
An Election on Iraq
"Nowhere did the American people make it more clear that we need a new direction than in the war in Iraq...We cannot continue down this catastrophic path."
—Incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
On November 14th, FBI investigators announce that the private security guards employed by contractor Blackwater who killed 17 Iraqi civilians while escorting a diplomatic convoy on Sept. 16th acted recklessly, concluding that 14 of the 17 deaths were unjustified. Still, the issue of who will be prosecuted and how remains unclear. Questions also loom about whether Blackwater's contract with the U.S. State Department will be renewed in May. The FBI report comes a month after the House passes a bill to close the legal loophole that protects overseas contractors from being prosecuted under Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act. The Senate has yet to vote on the act.