Marines 'beat US workers' in Iraq

A group of American security guards in Iraq have alleged they were beaten, stripped and threatened with a snarling dog by US marines when they were detained after an alleged shooting incident outside Falluja last month.

"I never in my career have treated anybody so inhumane," one of the contractors, Rick Blanchard, a former Florida state trooper, wrote in an email quoted in the Los Angeles Times. "They treated us like insurgents, roughed us up, took photos, hazed [bullied] us, called us names."

Mark Schopper, a lawyer for two of the contractors, told the newspaper that his clients, both former marines, were subjected to "physical and psychological abuse". He said they had told him that marines had "slammed around" several con tractors, stripped them to their underwear and placed a loaded weapon near their heads.

"How does it feel to be a big, rich contractor now?" one of the marines is alleged to have shouted at the men, in an apparent reference to the large sums of money private contractors can make in Iraq.

Lieutenant Colonel David Lapan, a Marine Corps spokesman, who did not respond to emails from the Guardian, said in an email to the LA Times: "The Americans were segregated from the rest of the detainee population and, like all security detainees, were treated humanely and respectfully."

source:
Guardian

Interesting Story with quite a few points.

First - yet another "incident" of Friendly Fire which resulted in a tragic accident, this time without any fatal casualties.

Second - we can see a gap building between Fellow USA contractors and USA Marines. Do one know what the others are doing, or is it all just one Big mess?

Third - Again its the Word of the Military against the Word of a Civilan (even if from Zapata Group, a famous Bush Corporation). USMC spokeman said: "The Americans were segregated from the rest of the detainee population and, like all security detainees, were treated humanely and respectfully." Yep I am sure - just like they treated the prisoners in Guantanamo and other Gizmo's with in a "humane and respectfull mannor". On the other hand, the one of the contractors says: "I never in my career have treated anybody so inhumane. They treated us like insurgents, roughed us up, took photos, hazed [bullied] us, called us names."

Again a case of, "My Word agaist Yours".

And Again the Word of the Military is Far Stronger.

Maybe because they have plenty of Guns.

And if US Marines Beat US Workers - Imagine what They do to Foreign Terrorists, that are Interrogated!

[edit on 9/6/05 by Souljah]

Excellent post souljah! This shows were the mistreatment etc is really coming from, marines in iraq. Marines are notorious for this kind of behavior in fact i have been threatened by recruiters here in the USA.

Originally posted by XphilesPhan
Excellent post souljah!

This shows were the mistreatment etc is really coming from, marines in iraq. Marines are notorious for this kind of behavior in fact i have been threatened by recruiters here in the USA.

Are there US Marines in Guantanamo?

It would be a very interesting scenario if the marines started turning on contractors more and more, something that would be very bad for the governments wars.

As more marines start realising that who they are actually risking their lives for are the big business in Iraq and not the Iraqi people, they might start getting more agressive with these contractors and resenting them more and more.

Like the marines representing the President, contractors are representing the people making profits from the death and destruction.

i guess thats good news. Now nobody can accuse them of being biased

Originally posted by TheShroudOfMemphis
Like the marines representing the President, contractors are representing the people making profits from the death and destruction.

But President represents also the contractors - the people making profits in this War.

This War in Iraq is going to Split American people in Half - to those who Risk their Lives and the Lives of their Daughters and Sons and those who Risk their Stocks on the Market.

Whats more important? Blood or Money?



[edit on 9/6/05 by Souljah]

Originally posted by Souljah

Originally posted by XphilesPhan
Excellent post souljah!

This shows were the mistreatment etc is really coming from, marines in iraq. Marines are notorious for this kind of behavior in fact i have been threatened by recruiters here in the USA.

Are there US Marines in Guantanamo?

i believe that it IS guarded by US marines. but can't be certain.


angie

Originally posted by XphilesPhan
Marines are notorious for this kind of behavior in fact i have been threatened by recruiters here in the USA.

XphilesPhan, are talking about the incident you mention in this thread? I think it's the one where the recruiter threatened to blow up your house with a missile....is that it?

i had a recruiter threaten to bomb my house if my brother did not join.

No, i had it tape recorded and were going to take it to his commander about it. we decided to let it drop. I am not joking. This guy was talking about using some kind of missile etc.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Are there US Marines in Guantanamo?

Yes, there is a FAST (Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team) company in G-mo. Thet are assigned to protect the exterior of the U.S. Special Interest (kind of like an Embassy) in Cuba. MSG's (Marine Security Guards) protect the interior of the interest/Embassy. The Army is assigned with the interior of all the terrorist, insurgent whatever prisons and camps.

Like the marines representing the President

We do not represent the president. Why is that? How did come up with this?

I cannot say if the storty is true or not, I was not there and neither were any of you. [Edit: false info on my part..sorry] However if it is true, the Marines who did these things do not represent the entire Corps. Very few Marines do such things....and in the Marine Corps those who do things like this do get punished severely.

Marines are notorious

Please give examples, why do you say that?
Marines are notorious for many things....I should know, Iam one. But most of the stuff is all hype and overplayed. Like in some countries people actually think we have to kill babies or our mothers to be Marines.....which is not true.




[edit on 9/6/2005 by SportyMB]

OK Sporty - who is Guarding the prisoners in G-mo?

Marines or US Army soldiers?

Well who is the Supreme Commander of ALL Armed Forces, including the USMC?

The President of the USA Right?

That means that Marines go where President tells them to go - therefore, they are Ambassadors of Presidents Will.

Are they Not?

Here is another treatment of the same incident.
In this case, the story calls it a shooting spree.
Security Guards arrested

If they were shooting at marines, they deserved to be treated as insurgents, and are lucky to still be alive.

OK Sporty - who is Guarding the prisoners in G-mo?

The Marines and the Army...the Army takes on the roll of being the "correctional officer" I guess you could say...kind of like a
prison guard in the movies doing the bed ckecks all that...

Well who is the Supreme Commander of ALL Armed Forces, including the USMC?

The President

That means that Marines go where President tells them to go - therefore, they are Ambassadors of Presidents Will.

Are they Not?

Yes we go where he says and No, the military does not represent Bush or his will....they represent the US.
Hell many of them didnt even vote....so why do they represent Bush?

Do you represent Blaire? Do Americans represent Bush? Do people in the Peace Corpes represent Bush too? That's a US Gov organization....which woukld also fall under Bush.

When Marines go to a Foreign Land and meet Dangerous and Agry people, who are not happy with the Bush Foreign policy - who do they get Angry upon?

The President?

Or the Marines?

Its like this: You work in a Shop, and the Unhappy Customer that comes in, always comes to the first Salesman and releases ALL anger upon him. And he is not guilty of anything, he just Works there. He is not The Boss, nor is he the Director of the Company - but still, he is on the Frontline, and intercepts all the beatings directed at the Boss.

Basicly he represents the Firm.

Just like the Marines in Iraq represent USA.

Originally posted by spacedoubt
Here is another treatment of the same incident.
In this case, the story calls it a shooting spree.
Security Guards arrested

If they were shooting at marines, they deserved to be treated as insurgents, and are lucky to still be alive.

Good find....I think this could be the same story in both articles..it is
The Marine spokes person is the same man in both articles and the dates of the articles are the same.

Marines spokesman Lt. Col. Dave Lapan said Marines reported seeing gunmen in several late-model trucks fire ``near civilian cars'' and on military positions

Which leads me to believ that www.guardian.co.uk is putting there own twist on it to make the Marines look bad [edit: false info....my bad]


[edit on 9/6/2005 by SportyMB]

you're assuming that the US Media reports are not biased! It's well known that 99% of the US media is not a reputable source for news.

Originally posted by SportyMB
.....this is nothing new the Guardian has a rep for hyping up and exaggerating stories with a clear agenda to make the military look bad

What? You are talking absolute rubbish. Subscribe to The Guardian do you? Read it frequently do you? Read it ever have you?

Go reasearch the author of the piece to see what stories he has submitted and published in The Guardian and elsewhere . Disagree with that, and judge the story from there.

Don't make up lies though. You just end up looking foolish.

Jak

[edit on 9/6/05 by JAK]

Originally posted by arnold_vosloo
you're assuming that the US Media reports are not biased! It's well known that 99% of the US media is not a reputable source for news.

I agree man....[edit: same info from last post which is false...my mistake]

[edit on 9/6/2005 by SportyMB]

Absolute rubbish.

Originally posted by SportyMB
the Guardian has a rep for hyping up and exaggerating stories with a clear agenda to make the military look bad


That statement is true.....they are known for that, just like FOX is known for down grading stories to make the US look better..if reporting them at all.

Im just pointing out the facts.

What research and proof do you have for that statement?

None. I repeat the questions:

Subscribe to The Guardian do you?

Read it frequently do you?

Read it ever have you?

Jak

[EDIT - Removed unrequired sarcasm - Please accept my apologies SportyMB, Jak]

[edit on 9/6/05 by JAK]

My mistake. In other post in this thread I said that guardian.co.uk
is bias against the military. I was basing that off of a few articles
from them that people have posted and the articles posted were
questionable. But that was only a few articles not most of them.

Guardian.co.uk is just the opposite. Most of thier articles are factual and not bias in anyway towards the military. I had to register and go though the site and take a look. My mistake in saying that they have an agenda against the military....I have edited my above post to state otherwise.

Overall it's a great site. Foolish of me to think otherwise.

[edit on 9/6/2005 by SportyMB]

The Marines in and around Fallujah are there as a security force, that is their job. If they see/ hear weapons the Marines are going to look into it.

Be nice to the Marines and they will be nice to you. Show your a$$ and they will kick it.

Roper

Originally posted by Roper
The Marines in and around Fallujah are there as a security force, that is their job. If they see/ hear weapons the Marines are going to look into it.

Be nice to the Marines and they will be nice to you. Show your a$$ and they will kick it.

Roper

I agree that provocations can lead in a disaster, especially in a critical area, such as Fallujah.

But the real question here is, what kind of gap between the private contractors and the offical Army of the USA has been forming in Iraq.

It is pretty much obvious that private contractors make Whole lot money more than an averege Marine.

As one Marine said: "How does it feel to be a big, rich contractor now?"

Will this gap between the two sides become even more wide in the Future?

Basicly Mariene are risking their own lives so that they can keep the place "secure" for the Corporate interests to be executed without any problems.

You think they will ever see the "Piece of that Pie"?