US Prosecutor In Blackwater Case Goes To Iraq

BAGHDAD -- An American prosecutor working on the case against five Blackwater security guards indicted in connection with a 2007 shooting in Baghdad has arrived in Iraq and will be meeting with victims' families this week, Iraqi officials said.

An Iraqi official familiar with the investigation said the meeting with victims' families would take place on Saturday in a large dining center in Iraq's National Police Headquarters, just a stone's throw from Nisour Square, the traffic circle in Baghdad where at least 17 Iraqis were killed by private security guards working for Blackwater Worldwide on Sept. 16, 2007.

The American Embassy in Baghdad is contacting victims' families ahead of the Saturday meeting, the official said. The prosecutor will make a presentation to the families as a group, he said, briefing them about how the investigation has been conducted to date, taking them through what will happen during the trial, and explaining how they can make claims against Blackwater.

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