October 30, 2007 (LPAC)--Federal law enforcement officials said on Monday that the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security offered Blackwater security guards, who are being investigated for the murder of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, limited use immunity last month, even though the Bureau did not have the authority to do so. The prosecutors of the Department of Justice, who do have such authority, reportedly had no advance knowledge of the arrangement. The action on the part of the State Department may have irreparably damaged any potential case in the U.S. against the Blackwater guards, the New York Times reports.

The Blackwater guards are immune from Iraqi law under an order promulgated by L. Paul Bremer, who ran the U.S. occupation government until June, 2004. However, Associated Press reports today that in response to the news of the State Department actions, the Iraqi parliament approved a draft law on Tuesday that would overturn the immunity order, known as Decree 17, which Bremer promulgated.