Tension, Confusion Between Troops, Contractors in Iraq

"Before we left [Camp Victory], I called my wife and said, 'I should be there in about half an hour. I'll call you then,' " said Pete Ginter, an eight-year Marine veteran who had worked as a contractor in Bosnia and Kosovo before moving to Iraq. "That was the last time I talked to her for three-and-a-half days."

Problems began for the contractors when, on the return trip through Fallujah later that afternoon, they spotted a front-end loader approaching from the right side. Fearing an ambush, Cleland, armed with an M-4, leaned out his window and tried to wave off the truck. When he could not get the driver's attention, he fired three shots into the ground.

"I made sure the ricochets didn't even hit his truck," Cleland said. "It was just to let him know that we were there."

The convoy was still on the east side of the Euphrates River, across a bridge from the Marine checkpoint, ECP 6. Cleland said his bullets could not have traversed the bridge and hit the checkpoint.

The Marines tell a different story, saying the observation post "was fired on by gunmen from vehicles matching the description of those involved in the earlier attack." According to Marine statements released after the incident, Marines also observed the convoy shooting at civilian vehicles in Fallujah. The Marine Corps declined to answer specific questions about the incident e-mailed by The Washington Post, because of its ongoing investigation.

Members of the convoy said they believe they received fire as they crossed the bridge, but did not return it. Once they arrived on the west side of the bridge, the contractors snaked through the barricades leading to the checkpoint, and the fourth vehicle, a Ford pickup, grazed a strip of spikes designed to slow vehicles as they approach. One of the pickup's rear tires exploded.

But there was no alarm from the Marines manning the post, according to the contractors. The convoy members changed their blown tire and spoke with a young Marine who asked if they needed help. Several minutes later, a Marine captain came out, accused the men of shooting at his post, and ordered them to a base in Fallujah.

"He said my guys just fired six rounds at his checkpoint," said Richard Devine, 41, a veteran of the Army's Special Forces and the convoy's commander. "I was shocked to hear about it. I wanted to go and see these six hits. Their story changed, and now it was two rounds that landed near the checkpoint."

Still armed, the contractors were taken to the base, some riding in a Humvee with a hooded and restrained insurgent suspect. There, they were held in a conference room and handed over their official Defense Department identification cards. Their weapons were stashed elsewhere.

Several hours later, 15 to 20 Marines in full battle gear entered the room, and the contractors were ordered to face the wall, their hands over their heads. A military working dog snarled and barked, they said.

"A female MP had a dog, and the dog was close, so close that at one point I felt its breath," said Gary Simpler, 39, a former Special Forces sergeant who spent 20 years in the Army.

In a statement, a Marine spokesman confirmed that a military working dog was present but said that, according to a witness, the dog never assumed an aggressive posture and was not close to the detainees.