Inside Story - Iraq vows to fight blackwater ruling - 3 Jan 2009

The angry Iraqi government says it's determined to appeal a controversial court ruling in the U.S. that dismissed manslaughter charges against five Blackwater Security guards. They're accused of killing 17 Iraqi civilians in 2007. The security personnel claim to have fired in self-defence when a convoy they were protecting came under attack. Witnesses, however, say the men opened fire without provocation indiscriminately into a crowd.

But how can this case now move to appeal? And what's fall out of the ruling for U.S.-Iraqi relationships?