Rice orders full review of Iraq diplomatic security

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department said on Friday it would thoroughly examine the use of private security contractors to protect American diplomats in Iraq after a deadly shooting involving the U.S. firm Blackwater.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she had ordered a "full and complete review of how we are conducting our security details" but said dangerous diplomatic missions in Iraq had to go on because they were critical to U.S. goals in the country.

Her spokesman said the senior department management officer had already begun the evaluation and that outside experts might be brought in to help correct any flaws found in the system.

"I take very seriously, and called up Prime Minister Maliki to regret the loss of life," Rice told a news conference in Washington.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki suggested the U.S. Embassy stop using Blackwater after what Iraq called a flagrant assault by the firm's contractors in which 11 people were killed while the firm was escorting an embassy convoy through Baghdad on Sunday.

With anger mounting in Baghdad, Iraq's Interior Ministry has drafted legislation giving it wider powers over the contractors, who provide security for U.S. diplomats on the violent streets of Iraq.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Pat Kennedy, director of the department's office of management policy, would lead the evaluation of protective security detail. The senior management diplomat had already begun his work, he said.

"We may take some additional steps with respect to the review, including bringing in some outside experts," he told reporters.

Blackwater guards were back on the streets of Baghdad on Friday after the U.S. Embassy eased a three-day ban on road travel by U.S. officials outside the capital's heavily fortified Green Zone.