Lawsuits against mercenary companies

ISTANBUL  – Four Iraqis are suing two US firms and their employees for allegedly torturing them at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Bagdad five years ago.

Their lawsuit is against private security contractor CACI International and two of its interrogators, Daniel Johnson and Tim Dugan, and the translation agency L-3 (formerly Titan Corp) and its interpreter, Abel Nakhla, lawyer William Gould told AFP in Istanbul on Monday.

Now this will get interesting: Can contractors be sued for aiding and abetting the treatment of people that the contractors could not do to animals?

(Yet I wonder if torture should be solely reserved for the government. After all, the government already has the force of law reserved for its own use. Perhaps we should issue permits and establish a government agency to oversee the conduction of torture? …Just kidding, folks. RC is against torture. )

So now, if you are a contractor who tortures people can you be sued in a US court of law for damages? I think that Paul Bremer’s proclamation is only valid for Iraqi courts. Do you remember the proclamation that contrators in Iraq cannot be tried for any crimes they may have committed or may yet commit?  This was Coalition Provincial Authority Order 17.

 CPA Order 17 stipulated that “Contractors shall be immune from Iraqi legal process with respect to acts performed by them pursuant to the terms and conditions of a Contract or any sub-contract thereto” (4.1).

  But somebody at the White House forgot to ask Congress to grant immunity for contractors in Iraq when sued in American courts. Oh, yes, this will get interesting now.  Which federal government department will want to prevent victims from testifying in open court about the treatment they endured that was approved by government officials? Which civilian contractor will say that their contracts with Uncle Sam included immunity from US courts? Which contractors will countersue the federal government for damages resulting from their completed agreements with Uncle Sam, yet now incur unexpected damages/costs as a result?

More to this story, for sure.