Book: Massacre at Fallujah was a trap

[sabra]

http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20060907-075135-9751r

Book: Massacre at Fallujah was a trap
UPI

WASHINGTON -- The four contractors killed in Fallujah in 2004 - an incident that heavily influenced the Iraq insurgency - were led into a trap, according to a new book.

In "Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror," author Robert Young Pelton writes that the four Blackwater contractors who were mutilated, burned and strung from a bridge in March 2004 were led into the ambush by two trucks full of men in the uniform of the Iraq Civil Defense Corps (ICDC), a now-disbanded part of the new Iraqi security forces.

The attack on the security workers prompted US authorities to order a US Marine attack on the city, which was later halted then called off, as the fear of civilian casualties grew.

The 1st Marine Division was ordered to strike a withdrawal deal with Fallujah's leaders, which resulted in the city becoming a no-go zone for US troops. It then became a home base for Iraq's Sunni insurgent leaders and Al Qaeda in Iraq.