Law fuzzy on guards as combatants

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. officials are reviewing whether private security guards in Iraq could be considered unlawful combatants in violation of the Geneva Conventions.

If that proves true, the United States would be treaty-bound to pull the contractors from war zones, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

Private contractors legally are allowed to use force to defend themselves but the line between defensive and offensive force is poorly defined, the newspaper said.

"It really is, legally speaking, very convoluted," a senior U.S. Department of Defense official told the Times.

The subject has taken on new urgency as U.S. authorities investigate the Sept. 16 killing of civilians in Iraq by Blackwater security guards.

If lawyers at the departments of State, Defense and Justice deem the guards to be unlawful combatants, the guards' work in war zones would be limited, which would hand the already burdened U.S. military even more work, the Times reported.