Does this mean American private contractors have joined the Iraqi insurgents, or what?
Sixteen
private American security guards are under investigation for shooting
at U.S. Marines and Iraqi civilians during a three-hour spree west of
Baghdad, the military said Thursday.
The Marines said the 16 Americans and three Iraqi contractors were
arrested and held in a military jail for three days after spraying
small arms fire at Iraqi civilians and U.S. forces from their cars in
Fallujah late last month. There were no casualties.
[...]
Marines spokesman Lt. Col. Dave Lapan said Marines reported seeing
gunmen in several late-model trucks fire "near civilian cars" and on
military positions.
"Three hours later, another Marine observation post was fired on by
gunmen from vehicles matching the description of those involved in the
earlier attack," Lapan said.
U.S. forces later detained the contractors without incident and held
them in a military jail for three days. The American contractors are
thought to have left Iraq, the military said. A Naval Criminal
Investigative Service inquiry is under way.
UPDATE: So, here's the "contractor" side of the story:
A
group of American security guards in Iraq have alleged they were
beaten, stripped and threatened with a snarling dog by US marines when
they were detained after an alleged shooting incident outside Falluja
last month.
"I never in my career have treated anybody so inhumane," one of the
contractors, Rick Blanchard, a former Florida state trooper, wrote in
an email quoted in the Los Angeles Times. "They treated us like
insurgents, roughed us up, took photos, hazed [bullied] us, called us
names."
A Marine Corps spokesman denied that abuse had taken place and said an
investigation was continuing. According to the marines, 19 employees of
Zapata Engineering, including 16 Americans, were detained after a
marine patrol in Falluja reportedbeing fired on by a convoy of trucks
and sports utility vehicles. The marines also claim to have seen gunmen
in the convoy fire at civilians.
This is believed to be the first time that private military contractors
have been detained in Iraq by the US military, and it has reignited
debate about their status and accountability.
The security guards claim the shooting incident was a case of mistaken
identity. A spokeswoman for the company told the LA Times that the
guards had fired warning shots into the air when an unidentified
vehicle approached their vehicle as it passed through Falluja, but had
not fired at any marines.
Mark Schopper, a lawyer for two of the contractors, told the newspaper
that his clients, both former marines, were subjected to "physical and
psychological abuse". He said they had told him that marines had
"slammed around" several con tractors, stripped them to their underwear
and placed a loaded weapon near their heads.
"How does it feel to be a big, rich contractor now?" one of the marines
is alleged to have shouted at the men, in an apparent reference to the
large sums of money private contractors can make in Iraq.
Lieutenant Colonel David Lapan, a Marine Corps spokesman, who did not
respond to emails from the Guardian, said in an email to the LA Times:
"The Americans were segregated from the rest of the detainee population
and, like all security detainees, were treated humanely and
respectfully."
The American contractors, who were working in explosives disposal, were
arrested on May 18 and imprisoned for three days. All have since left
Zapata Engineering, which is based in North Carolina, and have returned
to the US. They also complained they were made to wear orange prison
uniforms and fed the same "bad food" as Iraqi prisoners.
