Abu Ghraib Detainees Sue U.S. Contractors for Torture

The call for justice should never cease. While we hold slim hope of justice being done and BushCo and all the participants in the torture policy being held accountable, the call for justice should never fall silent.

The Center for Constitutional Rights keeps up the good fight, representing four former Abu Ghraib detainees in their suits against military contractors:

Four former Abu Ghraib detainees who were wrongly imprisoned, tortured and later released without charge are suing two U.S. military contractor corporations and three individual contractors, according to four separate lawsuits being filed today by their U.S. legal team.

In this case, four former detainees are suing two military contracting companies and three individuals:

The defendants are CACI International Inc. (NYSE: CAI) and CACI Premier Technology, Inc., of Arlington, Va.; L-3 Services Inc., an Alexandria, Va.-based division of L-3 Communications Corp. (NYSE: LLL), of New York; and three individual contractors, Adel Nakhla, of Montgomery Village, Md., Timothy Dugan, of Pataskala, Ohio, and Daniel E. Johnson, of Seattle, Wash.

These companies are war profiteers. Working under inflated, no-bid contracts, with little to no accountability, they are profiting from violence and torture. As attorney Susan L. Burke said in an earlier suit filed by CCR on behalf of more than 250 former Abu Ghraib detainees:

CACI employees conspired with Graner, Frederick and others who have already been convicted and sentenced. Yet CACI employees have evaded accountability, and CACI itself made millions of dollars from the United States. Is this conduct our taxpayer dollars should be paying for?

CACI has recently projected a decrease in profits for 2009. As an obscenely neutral business news account has it:

The company, which is a key contractor for U.S. intelligence agencies and has been engaged in work in Iraq, is one of many firms that would be affected if a new U.S. administration reins in defense spending, or hastens a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Will justice be done for these detainees? Can our legal system, putatively an exemplar of institutions of justice, being accountability to the perpetrators and relief to the victims? CCR continues to fight tirelessly for justice and accountability: Attorney Burke says:

"These innocent men were senselessly tortured by U.S. companies that profited from their misery," said lead attorney Susan L. Burke, of the Philadelphia law firm Burke O'Neil. "These men came to U.S. courts because our laws, as they have for generations, allow their claims to be heard here.

Let us now focus on the four plaintiffs:

From the CCR press release:

The Iraqi civilians filing suit in federal courts in Maryland, Ohio, Michigan, and Washington state, jurisdictions in which the individual contractor defendants reside, are:

• Mohammed Abdwaihed Towfek Al-Taee, a 39-year-old taxi driver who was detained and horrifically abused for nine months before his May 2004 release. He later learned that he likely was the victim of a customer who presumably turned him over in exchange for American money for intelligence "tips."

• Wissam Abdullateef Sa’eed Al-Quraishi, a 37-year-old married father of three, who was hung on a pole for seven days at the infamous Abu Ghraib "hard site" and subjected to beatings, forced nudity, electrical shocks, humiliating treatment, mock executions and other forms of torture during his incarceration at the prison.

• Sa’adoon Ali Hameed Al-Ogaidi, a 36-year-old Arabic teacher and shopkeeper and father of four, who was held for a year, caged, brutally abused at the prison "hard site," stripped and kept naked, and was a "ghost" detainee hidden for a time from the International Committee of the Red Cross.

• Suhail Najim Abdullah Al-Shimari, a farmer who was held for more than four years, including at the prison "hard site," was caged, threatened with dogs, and subjected to beatings and electrical shocks, and threatened with death and being sent to a "far away" place.

Of course, CACI claims that these are frivolous law-suits, and that there has been no substantial evidence to back any of the allegations made in any of the suits against the company:

"These latest lawsuits only repeat baseless allegations about CACI that appeared more than four years ago," it said in an e-mailed statement. "These generic allegations of abuse, coupled with imaginary claims of conspiracy, remain unconnected to any CACI personnel."

One vital function of the suit, in addition to aiming for some kind of accountability and reparations, is to make an accurate record, to let the story of these torture victims be heard:

"This litigation will contribute to the true history of Abu Ghraib. These innocent men were senselessly tortured by U.S. companies that profited from their misery," said Susan L. Burke, one of the attorneys representing the detainees.

Witness. Witness. Witness.

And please support the crucial work of the Center for Constitutional Rights.