As the federal government moves ahead with its prosecution of Blackwater employees involved in civilian deaths in Iraq, U.S. Rep. David Price says the courts — not the Department of Defense — will decide whether the guards can be prosecuted under the law.

Blackwater guards killed 17 civilians on Sept. 16, 2007, in Baghdad during a convoy detailed to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Barb Barrett reports.

The U.S. Department of Defense told Price in December 2007 that because Blackwater was working for the Department of State during the incident, the guards could not be subject to prosecution in the United States. The letter came from Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England.

The U.S. Department of Justice now disputes that. It filed a legal brief last week arguing that Defense and State were working together, and therefore the guards could be prosecuted.

A Memorandum of Understanding signed Dec. 5, 2007, — after the incident — says the State and Defense departments will "jointly develop, implement and follow core standards" of private security contractors such as Blackwater.

The memo says the standards would include a "clear legal basis for holding (U.S. Government) private security contractors accountable under U.S. law."

Price spokesman Paul Cox said this morning that, "regardless of the views expressed in the Deputy Secretary's letter, it's up to the courts alone to determine whether these security contractors fall under federal criminal jurisdiction."