"Friendly" Iraqis may have lured contractors -NYT

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N09238115.htm

NEW YORK, April 9 (Reuters) - Four U.S. security contractors who were killed and mutilated in Falluja, Iraq, appear to have been lured into an ambush by men they believed to be friendly members of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, an executive of their security firm told The New York Times.

In the newspaper's Friday edition, Patrick Toohey, a senior executive at Blackwater USA, said the Iraqi men promised the Blackwater-led convoy safe and quick passage through the restive city last week. A few kilometers (miles) later, they suddenly blocked off the road, preventing any escape from waiting gunmen, the newspaper quoted Toohey as saying.

Two senior Pentagon officials told The New York Times they could not independently confirm the conclusions of the Blackwater investigation, and that a separate military inquiry was continuing.

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[truthspeaker]

1. payback's a bitch, ain't it, you gun-toting yahoos

I have no sympathy for mercenaries who volunteer to participate in a colonial occupation.

[54anickel]

2. A security detail picking up kitchen supplies? Uh-huh. n/t

[On the Road]

3. That Would be the Daniel Pearl Model, No?

I think he was lured to his kidnapping by false friends.

[fishnfla]

5. Not really, he was chasing a lead for a story

He was set up, but he was dealing with a shady group to begin with.

[JeebusH]

4. Afghans used the same ploy against the Russians ....

sort of work for them

[bobthedrummer]

6. This sounds like something from The Office of Stategic Influence

which had planned on planting false stories in the world's media as part of the war on terrorism, but the last story we got about the OSI is that it never opened.

[Brucey]

7. I hate it when they're called "contractors."

They were ex-military, military-trained, armed security guards. Why is it called "murder" when they are killed, but not when US troops kill innocent civilian Iraqis? Maybe the "contractors" were "collateral damage."