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.”