RENO
Military won't charge U.S. contractors detained in Iraq
March 28, 2006, 05:50 PM

The US military has decided against charging 16 American security contractors who were held by Marines in Iraq for 72 hours last summer after a shooting incident near Fallujah.

A spokesman for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in Washington DC says the agency has closed its criminal investigation of the case.

Ed Buice told The Associated Press there is not enough evidence to seek charges.

Buice says the NCIS did not investigate claims by several contractors -- including Matt Raiche of Dayton, Nevada -- that they were mistreated by Marine guards while detained at Camp Fallujah.

The Marines said at the time the security contractors were detained for three days in May because they were suspected of firing on Iraqi civilian cars and US forces 40 miles west of Baghdad.

The security guards worked for Zapata Engineering based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They denied firing any shots. Several of the men said they were heckled, humiliated and physically abused by US Marines while they were held at a facility with insurgents.

A Reno attorney, Mark Schopper, is representing Raiche and three others in the case. He says he's looking into allegations that the men have been black-listed by other security contractors since the incident.

Ellie