Exec Says Contractors Didn't Fire on Troops

[Barrett808]

Exec Says Contractors Didn't Fire on Troops
By TIM WHITMIRE, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jun 10, 2:14 AM ET

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The head of a firm contracted to destroy ammunition in Iraq insists it is "inconceivable" his workers fired on Marines in Fallujah, given that nearly all of them have military backgrounds.

Defense officials said Thursday that American and Iraqi security guards for Zapata Engineering were detained for three days by Marines after the shooting last month. Some of the contractors have complained they were abused while in custody.

"We have a military culture in this company," Manuel Zapata told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday.

Zapata said he believes the only shot fired by his workers was a warning blast after they noticed a vehicle following them.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050610/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_workers_detained

[Systematic Chaos]

1. And we all know these corporate shits NEVER lie....

:eyes:

[lebkuchen]

2. Is lying on the IT list, or what?

I hope it's not contagious.

[Ms. Clio]

3. "Some of the contractors have complained they were abused while in custody

"Lawyer Mark Schopper of Reno, Nev., said some of the contractors have alleged they were physically abused and humiliated while in custody. Schopper said he represents two of the workers, including Matt Raiche, a former Marine in his 20s from Nevada.

Schopper said Raiche told him the contractors were heckled, slammed to the ground and kneed in the backs of their necks. Raiche claimed the workers also were menaced with dogs and that, while they were blindfolded, Marines made sounds as though they were chambering rounds of ammunition, Schopper said.

When they asked for an attorney, they were told to shut up, he said.

Schopper said Raiche, who has a Marine Corps tattoo, told him he and others were heckled about being "rich contractors."


Incredible--the U.S. military abused an American ex-Marine! And these guys are coming home someday, probably to a police department near you.

[daleo]

4. The "contractors" make $thousands per week

The marines make maybe a fifth of what the contractors do, for rather similar work. I wouldn't be surprised if there was no love lost between them.

[Disturbed]

5. The Mercs and the troops...

doen't seem to be buds yet Falluja was razed because Mercs that were shooting Iraqis were hanged after they were dead. The irony!

The illegal Invasion of Iraq and The Occupation is a clusterfuck of grand proportions.

[Ms. Clio]

6. Yes--it was just discussed here, recently, the money the contractors

were making, and that very point came up. One guy bought his mother a house with cash. It can only be maddening to the average soldier who is losing his car and maybe his wife, too. And he can't decide that he's had enough and wants to go home now.

But I'm still surprised that soldiers would treat a former Marine like that, and it only underscores the sort of brutal treatment the Iraqis must endure on a daily basis.

[gratuitous]

7. And Mr. Zapata knows this for a fact how, exactly?

He is able to guarantee the actions of his employees from his office thousands of miles away? He must be a very powerful man.

Naturally, if it turns out that his employees aren't the most trustworthy individuals on the face of the planet and actually did fire on Marines, he'll be more than happy to stand trial for them and serve any sentence that might be handed down, right?