U.S. departments: No Blackwater immunity

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. State and Justice departments indicated Tuesday no immunity had been offered Blackwater employees in Iraq, despite reports.

The State Department cannot offer someone immunity from federal criminal prosecution, spokesman Sean McCormack said in a briefing.

McCormack said he could speak in generalities, and not specifically on reports that immunity was offered to Blackwater guards in the Sept. 16 incident in which Blackwater personnel protecting a convoy of U.S. State officials in Baghdad killed 17 Iraqi civilians. A senior state official earlier denied that immunity was offered.

"(We) would not have asked the FBI and the Department of Justice to get involved in a case that we did not think that they could potentially prosecute, and I think if you ask the Department of Justice and the FBI if they would have taken on a case that they could not potentially successfully prosecute ...," McCormack said.

Saying he sought a legal opinion, McCormack said, "(The) Department of State cannot immunize an individual from federal prosecution, federal criminal prosecutions."

Finally, he said the reported type of immunity "would not preclude a successful criminal prosecution."

Meanwhile, the Justice Department said in a statement, "(Any) suggestion that the Blackwater employees in question have been given immunity from federal criminal prosecution is inaccurate."