Detention of US security contractors highlights "culture of impunity"

[undeterred]

By James Cogan WSWS
17 June 2005

A controversy surrounding the detention of a team of private contractors by US marines on May 28 has exposed the sharp tensions being produced by the activities of thousands of mercenaries employed by the Bush administration to help enforce the occupation of Iraq. Exactly what took place is the subject of conflicting claims. What is agreed is that 16 American contractors working for the North Carolina-based Zapata Engineering, along with three Iraqi maintenance workers, were arrested by marines and held in a US-run prison for three days.

Zapata holds a contract from the US military to manage an ammunition depot and collect, store and destroy munitions seized during military raids. On May 28, according to the company, its people were engaged in a “routine convoy in northern Iraq” when they were “intercepted” by marines. Of the 16 Americans, 14 were security guards, providing protection to two technical staff. The US military claims that the Zapata convoy had been shooting at American troops and Iraqi civilians. At 2 pm, a US unit in the Fallujah area reported that they had received “small-arms fire from gunmen in several late-model trucks and sports utility vehicles”, and that passengers in the vehicles had also fired at Iraqi civilians. Three hours later, the convoy was reported firing on a marine observation post and at civilian cars.

The Zapata convoy ran into a marine checkpoint soon after. All 19 men were taken into custody and transferred to a detention centre in Fallujah. After being released, the 16 Americans were subsequently prohibited from working in the surrounding Anbar province. A Marine Corp letter given to the men stated: “Your convoy was speeding through and firing shots indiscriminately, some of which impacted positions manned by US marines. Your actions endangered the lives of innocent Iraqis and US service members in the area.”

According to a spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Dave Laplan, the Zapata employees were, “like all security detainees, treated humanely and respectfully”. The contractors, all of whom have resigned from Zapata and returned to the US, have alleged they were abused, assaulted, and held incommunicado in two-metre-by-two-metre cells. Throughout their 72-hour detention, their requests to telephone their families or employer were rejected. Mark Schopper, a lawyer for two of the men, told the Charlotte Observer: “They asked for attorneys, they asked for Amnesty International, they asked for the American Red Cross. All three requests were denied.”

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/jun2005/merc-j17.shtml