Well I think most people reading that Rumsfeld was a Special Envoy for Reagan and that his proudest achievement was normalisation of relations with Iraq on behalf of the government of the USA - would imagine for one minute that during that time he was a private person as you do.

Most people would take that to mean that he was a Special Envoy for President Regan and that he was working on behalf of the American government.

However clearly we are in the world of words meaning what you say they mean.

At home in America, Blackwater is facing at least two wrongful-death lawsuits, one stemming from the mob killings of four of its men in Falluja in March 2004, the other for a Blackwater plane crash in Afghanistan in November 2004, in which a number of US soldiers were killed. In both cases, families of the deceased charge that Blackwater's negligence led to the deaths.

The difference between the aircrash that killed American soldiers and the Brasilian aircrash of course is that the Brasilian airline cannot claim immunity from prosecution - as Blackwater are doing.

Would you be kind enough to say whether or not you support private companies claiming immunity from prosecution when they may be responsible for the deaths of Americans?