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Judge Allows Contractor Torture Suit to Advance
We reported recently that the Center for Constitutional Rights is representing the families of the Iraqi victims of Blackwater's Nisour Square shootings in a lawsuit filed in U.S. court. That's one of only two lawsuits -- both filed by CCR, incidentally -- brought against U.S. contractors for potential crimes committed in Iraq. The other, brought against Titan Corporation and CACI in 2004 for their roles in prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, has been held up for years over legal questions over whether the victims have the right to sue. CACI provided an interrogator to the facility at Abu Ghraib, Steven Stefanowicz -- who "clearly knew that his instructions equated to physical abuse," according to the Taguba report -- while Titan provided two translators, John Israel and Adel Nakhla.
Well, today, the dam broke. The CACI suit will advance. The judge dismissed the suit against Titan, however, "because the translators performed their duties under the direct command and under the exclusive operational control of military personnel."
Josh
Zachary
I wonder when the suit will be stopped by the administration due to "State Secrets" statutes...
November 6, 2007 6:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
If we have FISA courts that have never even been accused of leaking a single secret, why can't the law provide for a civil court capable of protecting secrets? What harm could possibly come from this case being tried and decided by a Judge having the proper clearance? The risk posed to national security would be much less than allowing White House administration officials to have the same information. Ask Valerie Plame about that.
November 6, 2007 7:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
didn't that type of defense fail in Nuremberg, and other places? Then again, we used to legally consider waterboarding torture...
November 6, 2007 8:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
I still consider waterboarding to be torture...and those performing it on prisoners as violators of U.S. law and guilty of assault, battery, also possibly kidnapping, and a host of other charges should be brought at the earliest opportunity. But then, I'm a believer in the U.S. Constitution and upholding the treaties that have been ratified by Congress, etc.
November 7, 2007 3:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
It really is a sad statement about congress, where the only traction we are getting in rolling back the crimes of this administration and its cronies is through the court system. Unfortunately, people don't pay attention to the importance of judges, see Mr. 9/11's comments, in our country and the importance of the judicial appointments. Without the court system, we wouldn't know 1/10 of what we know now about the king and his cronies and we don't know much.
November 7, 2007 8:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ah! here's another one - a ray of hope. But everytime I get that hope up, the Democrats cave in.
They still don't understand that they were elected in protest of Bush, not on the merits of being Democrats - of which they haven't shown much but excuses, like Diane Feinstein, et. al. caving in for Mukasey.
You don't have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.
November 7, 2007 10:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
This case sure isn't gonna help CACI's appeal of the defamation suit they lost against Air America.
November 8, 2007 12:37 AM | Reply | Permalink