Security Firm Says Its Workers Were Lured Into Iraqi Ambush

New York Times ^ | 4/9/04 | David Barstow

[saquin]

At first, their gruesome deaths seemed the work of yet another random ambush in Iraq, this one made unforgettable by images of incensed Iraqis celebrating the sight of charred corpses swinging from a bridge over the Euphrates River.

But now it appears that the four private security contractors killed, burned and mutilated in Falluja last week were in fact lured into a carefully planned ambush by men they believed to be friendly members of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, according to Patrick Toohey, a senior executive at the security firm, Blackwater USA.

The Iraqi men, Mr. Toohey said, promised the Blackwater-led convoy safe and swift passage through the dangerous city, but instead, a few kilometers later, they suddenly blocked off the road, preventing any escape from waiting gunmen.

"The truth is, we got led into this ambush," Mr. Toohey, vice president for government relations at Blackwater, said in an interview, offering the company's first detailed account of the attack.

"We were set up," he said.

Two senior Pentagon officials said yesterday that they could not independently confirm the conclusions of the Blackwater investigation, and that a separate military inquiry was continuing.

Mr. Toohey said his company's investigation of the incident, which included interviews with convoy drivers who survived the ambush, had not yet determined whether the Blackwater employees were led into Falluja by active members of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, or whether they were led into the city by imposters wearing defense corps uniforms. But the convoy, on a mission to pick up kitchen equipment, had little cause for suspicion: the Iraqi escort had been arranged and met with the convoy as planned at an intersection just east of Falluja.

"They said, `We'll escort you, show you a short way through Falluja,' " Mr. Toohey said.

Imposters or not, he said, the incident underscored deepening concern about the reliability of the Iraqi civil defense forces at a time when allied troops are fighting in many parts of Iraq to suppress militant Sunni and Shiite groups.

Mr. Toohey's account, if confirmed, could deflect blame for the incident from Blackwater, which is based in Moyock, N.C. And the company's initial findings are in line with recent complaints from senior American officials about Iraqi forces.

In testimony last month to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gen. John P. Abizaid, the top American commander in the Middle East, spoke openly of his worries about the Iraqi security and police forces, now numbering more than 200,000.

"There's no doubt that terrorists and insurgents will attempt to infiltrate the security forces," he said. "We know it's happening, and we know it has happened. We attempt to do our best with regard to vetting people."

Also, the Pentagon has received new intelligence reports warning that Sunni and Shiite militia groups have been ransacking Iraqi police stations in some cities, and then handing out both weapons and police uniforms to angry mobs, government officials said.

Yesterday, the interim interior minister of Iraq, the official responsible for the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, resigned, citing criticism from L. Paul Bremer III, the American administrator. Although Blackwater provides for Mr. Bremer's personal security detail, it is not clear whether Mr. Bremer's criticism specifically related to the Falluja attack on the Blackwater team.

"There's a question about whether they were set up and whether it was an inside job by Iraqi civil defense people," one American intelligence official said. "That's a problem across Iraq, knowing which of the so-called Iraqi police forces are on our side and on their side. There's no question there is information flowing out to the bad guys."

At the same time, the four Falluja deaths and other clashes involving private security guards have prompted fresh questions about the scores of security companies working in Iraq on contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. With thousands of private security employees now guarding supply lines, buildings and reconstruction projects — and with thousands more on the way — they are increasingly being drawn into firefights and other combat situations that traditionally have been left to the military.

Last weekend, eight Blackwater contractors assigned to protect a building in Najaf fought alongside four marines and three Salvadoran soldiers to defeat a determined attack by hundreds of Iraqi militia members. The men fired thousands of rounds, yet were very nearly overrun, Mr. Toohey said. "They were down to single digits of ammo, less than 10 rounds a man."

Desperate and unable to communicate directly with military commanders, the eight Blackwater contractors instead called in help from Blackwater employees, he said. With approval from Mr. Bremer's staff, three Blackwater helicopters — the same ones used to ferry Mr. Bremer around Iraq — were dispatched to the Najaf battle to drop ammunition and retrieve a wounded marine.

"It was O.K. with him if they went out and saved some American lives," Mr. Toohey said of Mr. Bremer.

In a letter to the Pentagon yesterday, Democratic leaders requested information about the methods and activities of private security companies in Iraq, expressing concern that they could "contribute to Iraqi resentment." Thirteen Democratic senators — including the Democratic leader, Tom Daschle; Carl Levin, the senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee; and the vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee, John D. Rockefeller IV — called for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to provide "an accurate tally" of the privately armed non-Iraqi security personnel in Iraq. They also requested that the Pentagon adopt written guidelines, with supporting legal justification, for the rules of engagement security contractors should follow, as well as instructions on coordinating with the military and the future sovereign Iraqi government.

"It would be a dangerous precedent if the United States allowed the presence of private armies operating outside the control of governmental authority and beholden only to those who pay them," the senators said in the letter.

Blackwater employs some 450 "independent contractors" in Iraq to protect Mr. Bremer, guard five regional buildings used by the occupation forces and provide security for supply convoys. Mr. Toohey said the growing use of security contractors deserves a thorough debate both in the United States and around the world. "This is a phenomenon," he said. "This is a whole new issue in military affairs. Think about it. You're actually contracting civilians to do military-like duties."

But for some relatives of the Blackwater men killed in Falluja, the immediate questions are focused on the precise circumstances surrounding the attack and its horrific aftermath. "Why weren't they escorted?" asked Tom Zovko, brother of Jerry Zovko, one of the Blackwater men killed in Falluja. "I don't believe my brother would have done that. He was definitely not careless."

Mr. Toohey said Blackwater officials have begun to piece together the events of March 31 in part through interviews with three convoy truck drivers who survived the attack. The drivers and other witnesses, he said, described "a classic, well-planned vehicle ambush" in which the five-vehicle convoy was suddenly blocked from the front and the rear by vehicles.

"The I.C.D.C. blocked the road, and the ambush happened," he said, referring to the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, a force trained by the United States to guard roads and utilities and to fight insurgents. The assailants first "opened up at point-blank range" on the rear car in the convoy, he said, then fired on the lead vehicle.

"This ambush didn't even take 60 seconds," Mr. Toohey said.

The senior military spokesman in Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, said yesterday in a telephone interview that he was not aware of the Blackwater inquiry's findings and had been focused on current military operations. Officials at the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps did not respond to telephone messages.

Blackwater executives have briefed several members of Congress in recent days on the Falluja deaths, Congressional aides said. Mr. Toohey and Erik Prince, the company's owner, met Wednesday with at least four senior members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, including the chairman, John W. Warner, Republican of Virginia.

At the same time, Mr. Toohey said, Blackwater has made changes in "tactics, techniques and procedures" as a result of what they have already learned about the Falluja attack. The company has also set up a fund to collect donations for the families of the four men.

[avant_garde]

Very interesting article. Surprising a story of this caliber came from the NYT.

[Support Free Republic]

---

Don't cry .. The Freepers will save us from John Kerry
	Donate Here By Secure Server Or mail checks to FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794 or you can use PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com
STOP BY AND BUMP THE FUNDRAISER THREAD- It is in the breaking news sidebar!

[Travis McGee]

Last weekend, eight Blackwater contractors assigned to protect a building in Najaf fought alongside four marines and three Salvadoran soldiers to defeat a determined attack by hundreds of Iraqi militia members. The men fired thousands of rounds, yet were very nearly overrun, Mr. Toohey said. "They were down to single digits of ammo, less than 10 rounds a man."

Major pucker factor.

[savedbygrace]

In a letter to the Pentagon yesterday, Democratic leaders requested information about the methods and activities of private security companies in Iraq, expressing concern that they could "contribute to Iraqi resentment."

Dims love to blame the victims.

[First_Salute]

Combat power is not patrol, nor especially martial power.

[river rat]

No problem...

15 men, 9 rounds each....135 rounds...
With disciplined fire ...that's enough for at least another 100 ragheads..

Now then, it takes a lot of courage for a raghead to charge an objective that ALREADY has a hundred or more corpses strewn and splashed about the runup to the target..

(However -- the anus does strain when the last magazine is loaded and there are still Indians in the bush)

Semper Fi

[Squantos]

Thanks for the ping.....
When we were on our own per se we packed Beretta 70/71S .22 autos with a can made for us by Dr Phil Dater and a brick of sub sonic 40 grainers in our rucks. Figured we could hold a choke point till the cavalry arrived.........never needed it but we planned for just such an event. To this day I carry the little beretta 71S with a spare mag and a small 50 round box in an ankle rig as a backup to my 1911A1. Albeit Uncle Sugar kept my supressor for it..........:o)

These men did well........doom on all Iraq !.......Stay safe !

[ladyinred]

At first, their gruesome deaths seemed the work of yet another random ambush in Iraq,

But after careful investigative reporting, we have concluded that the murdering animals had just finished watching CNN's televised edition of the 911 commission, and felt it was safe to murder American civilians since we had no basis to be there in the first place.

[Travis McGee]

Good points!

[Squantos]

Fix Bayonets !..........agree on the pucker factor.

Stay safe !

[SZonian]

My thoughts exactly, looking for another negative aspect to pin on somebody instead of looking for solutions.

Stupid Dumbocrats!

Cheers!

[Travis McGee]

I would not want to be captured by those ragheads. "Last ten rounds" time must make one ponder the alternatives to capture.

[TOUGH STOUGH]

Interesting article. It was such a horrible travesty. Prayers going up again for the men who were killed.

[archy]

To this day I carry the little beretta 71S with a spare mag and a small 50 round box in an ankle rig as a backup to my 1911A1. Albeit Uncle Sugar kept my supressor for it..........:o)

The good Doctor would be pleased to build you one of your own for it. My own tool for that sort of thing was an Astra .22 Model 2000 *Cub* in .22 short. Long ago I had a Walther PP Sport in .22 that was particularly sweet, but with the can removed [easy with the Astra's quick-removable barrel] the little Astra fit very neatly into a handcuff case.

BTW: 150 rounds of .22 Long Rifle fits real neatly into a GI canvas first aid case, two boxes side-bu-side vertically, with one across the top horizontally. I generally carried 100 of .22 standard velocity for use with the can, and 50 .22 Stingers or mini-mag hollowpoints. With the .22 short, I carried the most reliable solids that fed best in the particular gun, which varied.

[McGavin999]

This explains why the Minister of Security was asked to resign.

[Squantos]

Kewl Tewls Archy.......Hers A pic of the "finest" E&E rigs ever devised short of a AC-130 ! My choice as described above. Albeit it ain't Phils can on the tube !

Ya'll Stay safe ..........:o)

[river rat]

You know---- the article makes a big deal about the 15 men having fired more than a thousand rounds at "hundreds of attackers"...

Hell -- that's not many! With that many attackers, and that large a group of defenders (15) -- they could have fired a thousand rounds before the first man realized his mouth was cotton dry... The old grunts will know what I mean.

Common practice for Marine crossing the wire to go out on patrol is to carry at LEAST 200 rounds of 7.62. Some for him, some for the M60. The same 15 men should have had 3000 rounds MINIMUM before they come under fire...

Now - with the .223 they were likely using - they could have been carrying the equal weight but close to 5000 rounds.

Sounds to me like the "contractors" and Salvadorans came to the fight under equipped and would have died if those 4 Marines had not been PROPERLY armed and equipped....

Just kidding.....you've got to laugh, or you'll cry over shit like this..

We should have been able to get to those kids a lot quicker than we did --- and killing ragheads all the way to their rescue..

Semper Fi

[Squantos]

But they were wearing Oakley's ! They were deadly and fashionable ! Eagle Eye was telling me about the hollywood shooters running about over there. High speed low drag and did I say they were wearing Oakley's ......?:o)

Stay safe !

[river rat]

"I would not want to be captured by those ragheads. "Last ten rounds" time must make one ponder the alternatives to capture."

I can still hear the Gunny..

"That ammo is Government owned and Government issued for a specific purpose... You are to kill the enemy... You are NOT authorized to use it to kill yourself... If you feel the need to kill yourself - after expending all your Government issued ammo killing the enemy -- then use your freaking Government issued Ka-Bar and slit your yellow wrists..."

"Otherwise, I and the United States Marine Corps expects you to stay alive under ANY circumstances --- manage somehow to return to your Marine Corps and get your ass rearmed and back into the freaking fight we brought you here to fight.."

We laughed -- but he MEANT it.... He was serious....
A very very very spooky man.... but the crazy bastard kept most of us alive.

Semper Fi