This story is so similar to what happened to me, its scary.

I was hired on as a contractor by a hiring manager who was very supportive. The manager repeatedly noted that this project was ideal for my skillsets, both technically and managerially, and so put me in charge of a major component of this global project.

However, the day I started, I was told that two existing contractors who had been competing for my lead role were not only going to remain on the project but were also going to report to me. The business leaders had preferred the existing consultants, while the hiring manager wanted me to head up the project, so this was their compromise. I also learned that an in-house manager had just been given a very similar project for a major division, creating immediate overlap issues in our responsibilities. And finally, a few days later, the division business head gave me specific instructions for the project that were counter to my hiring manager's directives. I brought all these concerns to the hiring manager at the close of my first week, and was told, "we'll have to play it by ear". Like your article, I decided to try and please all parties and "soldier on". Big mistake.

My scenario progressed almost identically to your article, with project and timeline changes, no assistance, conflicting information, finger pointing, etc., and to a very similar conclusion. In the end, politics trumped best practices. I've learned, like your article, to keep track of conversations (formally, by creating "meeting minutes" for distribution, and informally by writing down comments made pro & con), and copies of emails and documents. As a consultant, all I can hope to use these for is to protect my reputation if necessary (and make sure I get paid for the time and work completed). But, I strongly recommend that employees in similar adversarial situations take these defensive actions seriously.

It is nice to see that I am not alone in such times as 'being setup.' Good article. Thank you. I am concerned about how one can move on from such a setting up and firing. How and what does one say at his next contract position when asked what happened in your previous position?

I think such clashes usually take place in Matrix organisations. You could either have one person sponsoring projects (and therefore having the last say) and another anguished team trying to complete it (which would but naturally have two parts - the doers and the recognition gainers). I work in such a place where all glory gets stolen by the sponsor and any problems promptly dumped on me! Things once went on so bad that a sponsor who doesn't even know the difference between a Router and a Repeater started complaining to the Directors about my competency. Thankfully, I had an extremely supportive boss who put his foot down in my favor. I'm living in a time of truce .. but I might not be lucky the next time around!! There's really nothing much that can be done in such cases, specially after project delivery - even if you happen to encrypt your hard disk or keep copies of communications. Someone has to take the axe .. you just have to be watchful it doesn't fall on you. If it does .. sayonara :) - no one said life's fair!!

In my situation I am not sure if I am being setup for dismissal or if my manager just try to make life as close to hell as possible, but it is exactly for the same reasons as mentioned before, i.e. Management feeling threatened.
I was entertaining the thought of looking for some other job, but now I am convinced to start my search much more vigorously. Thanks.