Here's a modest proposal to deal with the problem of holding civilian contractors accountable for war crimes in Iraq or other war zones. Maybe we can't try 'em in military courts or civilian courts for valid constitutional reasons, and maybe politics means we can't give them to the Iraqis, even when they commit crimes against the newly liberated civilians.
But there is a way.
From US News and World Report, via TPM Muckraker:
Until now, contractors in Iraq have largely remained outside the reach of the legal system. But changes tucked into federal legislation in late 2006 have made it possible to charge civilians under the military justice system. The case against Alaa Mohammad Ali, charged last week, is the first following the changes to the military justice system, and Ali is the first civilian to face a possible court-martial in nearly four decades.
"The issues are significant just because it's an untested power," says Michael Navarre, a former military lawyer now in private practice. "It will have an impact not only on this case but on how contractor employees are treated under the law."
(snip)
But while the charge against Ali, a simple assault, may seem straightforward, trying civilians under military code raises significant constitutional questions -- ones that would likely make Ali's case a key test in the court system, legal experts say.
First among those issues is whether Congress had the authority to make this change. Second is the question of a civilian’s right to be judged by a jury of peers. Though the military system provides juries, they are comprised of military personnel, not civilians, and are often as small as five individuals compared with the average 12 in federal court. What's more, a military jury needs only a two-thirds majority for conviction; federal courts require unanimity.
Personally, I don't see the problem here. Here's my solution:
Hire "judicial contractors," and have them police the other civilian contractors. Since they would be uncovered by any law themselves (as civilian contractors), they could abduct ... er, I mean capture ... any civilian malefactors, try them, and then sentence and punish them any which way they saw fit, even by machine-gunning them in the streets or by raping them, which appears to be perfectly legal in the Green Zone.
If they get out of control themselves, all we have to do is hire more contractors to go after them. Simple enough.