U.S. Contractors: 'We Were Set Up'
The U.S. siege of Fallujah, which followed the killings and mutilations of four American civilians last month, was in its fifth day on Friday, although troops opened the blockade for a convoy carrying food and medicine sent by Sunni clerics in Baghdad.
The four American contractors who were killed were lured into an ambush by members of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, Patrick Toohey, vice president for government relations at the security firm, Blackwater USA, told the New York Times Friday. The men were working for Blackwater when their vehicle was hit by rocket-propelled grenades.
The Iraqi men had promised the Blackwater-led convoy safe passage through the city, but instead, they suddenly blocked off the road, preventing any escape from waiting gunmen, Toohey said.
"The truth is, we got led into this ambush," Toohey told the Times. "We were set up."
Two senior Pentagon officials said Thursday that they could not confirm Blackwater's conclusions and that a separate military inquiry was continuing.
