Contractor alleges abuse by Marines Was one of 16 security personnel
detained in Iraq
CNN.com / Big news / The Associated Press
Saturday, June 11, 2005
Posted: 0328 GMT (1128 HKT)
Some security contractors, like Matt Raiche, have complained they were
abused while in U.S. custody.
RENO, Nevada (AP) -- Security contractors were heckled, humiliated and
physically abused by U.S. Marines in Iraq while jailed for 72 hours
with insurgents, one of the detainees said Friday.
It was disbelief the whole time. I couldn't believe what was
happening," said Matt Raiche, 34, an ex-Marine who was one of 16
American and three Iraqi contractors detained at Camp Falluja last
month.
"I just found it crazy that we were being held with terrorists, that
we were put in the same facility with them," he told The Associated
Press in an interview at his lawyer's office. "They were calling us a
rogue mercenary team."
Defense officials said Thursday that the security guards for
Charlotte, North Carolina-based Zapata Engineering were detained for
three days. The contractors fired on Iraqi civilian cars and U.S.
forces in Falluja, 40 miles west of Baghdad, the Defense officials
said.
Company president Manuel Zapata said the only shot fired by his
workers was a warning blast after they noticed a vehicle following
them. (More on Falluja incident)
The military has denied the contractors were abused. No charges have
been filed against any of the contractors, who the military said were
separated from suspected insurgents.
Raiche, of Dayton, Nevada, said the contractors were stopped and taken
into custody on May 28. He said a Marine told him that shots had been
fired, and Raiche told him, "It wasn't us."
Raiche said several of the contractors were interrogated before they
were released June 1 with no official explanation for their detention.
A detainee's allegations
Raiche said guards intimidated the detainees with dogs, made them
strip and told them to wear towels over their heads going to the
restroom, so insurgents in the facility would not recognize and harm
them, Raiche said.
One of his colleagues was slammed to the ground by a guard, he said.
"His head bounced off the asphalt." Raiche said. "He told me he heard
one guard say to another, `If he moves, let the dog loose."'
Raiche said his colleague told him that a guard then reached down and
"squeezed his testicles so hard he could barely move."
When Raiche first arrived at the facility, he said a guard ordered him
to the ground and put a knee in his back. He said he heard one Marine
say, "How does it feel now making that big contractor money?"
Raiche said the Marines handcuffed them with "zip lock ties." When the
detainees complained they were so tight they were losing circulation
in their hands, they were cursed at and told to shut up, Raiche said.
Raiche returned to Reno on Thursday night. He said he had been in Iraq
for about two years before returning to Nevada earlier this spring,
then headed back to Iraq on May 2.
An estimated 20,000 Americans, many of them former military personnel,
are believed to be working in Iraq for contractors. More than 200
private workers have died in Iraq.
Zapata Engineering contracts frequently with the Defense Department
and Zapata said he was waiting for completion of the military's
investigation before he draws conclusions about how the military
treated his workers.
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