Iraqis detain 5 U.S. contractors over murder in Baghdad

I do not believe this. The US shoild order their release now and investigations will be made by us, not some tin pot lunatics.

Ah isn't democracy great. You make these agreements for short-term political gain and they are bound to come back and bite you in the axse. Then again, these guys are not members of the military, as such if they are hung out to dry it doesn't really matter. At the same time, there is more than a hint of this drama being played out for the benefit of the domestic Iraqi audience.

Anyone for the death penalty. If a worse case situation comes to pass, I wonder if the Iraqi guards will be issued with mobile phones to record events for prosperity.

I hope they are remanded to US custody immediately for trial under US law.

Oh so now everybody wants them tried under US law or juristiction, so would that be gitmo?. What the new laws and constitution forced on the Iraqis is not good enough for the same people that invaded?. I wonder what dick has to say about this..............OOps?.

So the justice system put in place by the US when Iraq was 'liberated' isn't good enough for US citizens? If not, why not?

I think most people see this as a unique situation with American on American violence in the Green Zone. Naturally people would wonder if it's just better to have the US handle it because of the nature of the case. It's really just common sense, but I understand that there are political arguments to be made so some of us will just have to deal with those who pretend that they have no common sense. Call it the "burden of the moderates."

Test the fledgling democracy's system. If it's a true justice system in a democratic nation, it should all be fair, no?

It may have happened in the Green Zone, but it's still on Iraqi soil. In all likelihood, though, these guys are going to suffer badly because I have a feeling they'll take on a lot of misdirected anger. We'll see what happens.

The Iraqis got to try Saddam under their laws, the US should be able to try their own under theirs, just like they do in Japan.

"Call it the "burden of the moderates." "

Hmm, if an American murdered someone here in France, what are the chances he'd be shipped back to the States for trial? What are the chances US authorities would even ask? I imagine it would be a battle just to get him back to the states to serve his sentence there (presuming he'd want to) after trial.

Iraq is an emotive issue I'll grant you. But even so, if we're to believe in the credibility of the regime the US installed over there, he should be tried in the country where the alleged crime was comitted. It's hardly as if he raped and Iraqi teenager, shot her whole family and bruned down the house to hide the crime as we previously saw....

...the issue shouldn't get the Iraqi's hyper-ventilating.

Oh I'm not saying he shouldn't be tried there, just wondering if anyone thought of this type of situation before the agreement was signed. I'm sure the Iraqis have better things to do than investigate a case involving the murder of an American over financial issue by other Americans. I'm wondering if there's even a way for Iraq to just hand this over to the US even if they wanted to.

If five Iraqis were detained on suspicion of killing another Iraqi in front of the White House, would it be really just common sense for Iraq to take over the investigations?

You've both got valid points.

cleo.....Of course. If the White House were in an area controlled by Iraqi troops in an Iraqi Green Zone in the middle of the US, I'd imagine the Iraqis would be better able to handle it.

Oops...sorry...was I supposed to assume all things were equal?