‘Uncategorized’ Archives
Los Angeles Times Picks Up Detained Convoy Story
Not bad for a one-man band. The Los Angeles Times followed my story from yesterday. An editor with the San Francisco Chronicle said the T. Christian Miller's story was on the sked but it never arrived last night. I credit that to my having all the sources. T., bless his talented heart, had to chase them down into the night.
Marines Arrest Private Security Convoy
Well... Here's the breaking story. Security contractors in Iraq accused of shooting at Marines. Strikes me as a fog of war story made all the foggier by mixing up 20,000 security contractors with military forces on the field of battle in Iraq. The names were witheld upon request of the contractors' wives who said they had received anonymous phone [...]
UPDATE: Rough Draft on Detained Contractors in Iraq
The word is that at least some of the security contractors detained by Marines under suspicion of shooting at guard tower in Fallujah are returning to the United States as early as Tuesday. (more…)
U.S. Marines and Zapata Respond
June 1 -- A U.S. Marine spokesman said late today that allegations about the mistreatment of 16 American contract security workers and three Iraqis jailed in Fallujah are untrue. They were "treated humanely and respectfully," he said in an e-mail. (more…)
Marines Detain Security Contractors in Fallujah
by David Phinney June 1, 2005 -- No one is talking, except several wives of the 16 U.S. contractors who say that U.S. Marines beat up their husbands after detaining them for 72 hours without food. The wives liken the incident to the torture and abuse of Abu Ghraib and say it reflects the growing tensions between contractors and military in [...]
Marines Arrest Sixteen Private Security Contractors in Iraq
by David Phinney May 31, 2005 -- This just in. Several sources confirm that the Marines outside Fallujah arrested 16 American security contractors and two Iraqis on Saturday. They were held until today. The contractors were working convoy security for Zapata Engineering and were accused of shooting their weapons. "There were security [...]
Spending Iraqi Assets
May 12, 2005 -- We're talking about billions of dollars in money from oil revenues, cash squirreled away by Saddam Hussein, and frozen bank accounts around the world seized -- and spent -- by Coalition forces, aka, per Peter Singer of Brookings, "the coalition of the billing." The court battle over allegations that the private security [...]
Are Contractors Terrorist Targets?
The Pentagon says no. That must be reassuring to those working in a country teeming with insurgents bent on bombing whatever travels on major roads in Iraq: ``While some attacks are intended to kill or capture contractors specifically in an effort to weaken U.S. resolve and boost insurgent campaigns, there is little evidence to support a [...]
Contract Quagmire in Iraq
by David Phinney April 27th, 2005 Rioting and threats of work stoppages at critical transportation hubs needed to rebuild the war-torn Iraq have erupted in recent months following payment disputes between contractors originally hired by the [...]
