Courting Torture

America is becoming downright elusive and sneaky in creating legal barriers to righting wrongs and avoiding the notion of American fair play that seems to have vaporized sometime after the 1950s. Particularly infamous is our ability to pay “others” to do our dirty work, and then either deny that dirty work happened or simply say, “Hey, that’s them and not us.” We had secret CIA prisons scattered about, many in Eastern Europe, where no one would really know what was happening there. We snoop on ourselves, our allies and do all kinds of fun things under the hideous and ubiquitous excuse of national security. We make use secret methods, and then deny those most deeply impacted from access to the relevant information.

One of the most visually disturbing days of infamy in recent years were the torture and interrogation of prisoners in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib fortress. And in addition to the humiliation heaped upon these terrified terrorists (or at least accused terrorists) by our own soldiers came the interrogation implemented not by government civil servants, but “contractors” hired to extract information. Sometimes they followed the rules… but… Complaints from prisoners ranged from sleep deprivation, loud and intolerable noise, routinely awakening every time sleep drifted them off, chains holding them in extremely uncomfortable positions, slapping and punching and, of course, the notorious waterboarding. One contractor employed to interrogate was CACI, but whether they crossed the line was not allowed to be presented before an American court.

According to CACI’s website, this Arlington, VA-based company is “Ever Viligent.” With lots of obvious questions, the site goes on to say: “For more than 50 years, CACI has remained committed to delivering operational excellence and innovation to our clients. Our customers in the defense, intelligence, federal civilian, and homeland security markets count on our mission-critical information solutions and services to help tackle their most pressing challenges. With an ideal mix of culture, people, and agility, we have the unique capability to rapidly identify and respond to our clients' needs.

“We embed operational excellence into every one of our more than 2,000 programs, and our clients keep coming back to us because they know we will perform. From generating actionable intelligence information to providing portable communications equipment, CACI is always there with innovative services that help secure our homeland, transform government operations, and solve complex problems.” Four Abu Ghraib prisoners alleged that CACI tortured them, eventually filing suit (in 2008) in Federal District Court in Virginia. In June of this year, that court dismissed the action without ever addressing whether or not such allegations were true.

“U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee ruled that because the alleged acts took place on foreign soil, CACI was ‘immune from suit’ in U.S. court…A little over a month after winning the dismissal this summer, CACI requested that the former prisoners be ordered to pay $15,580 to cover the company's legal expenses… Lawyers for the Iraqis disputed that their clients should pay CACI's bills, partly because the Iraqis had ‘very limited financial means, even by non-U.S. standards, and dramatically so when compared’ to CACI, according to a court filing. Moreover, they wrote, the initial claims against CACI, involving ‘serious claims of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and war crimes were dismissed on very close, difficult -- and only recently arguable -- grounds.’” Huffington Post, September 6^th. The Iraqis are appealing the decision and the award of legal fees against them.

Kind of makes you go all warm and fuzzy inside knowing there could be absolutely no remedy for folks tortured by American contractors on the payroll of the United States of America. CACI’s official warm and fuzzy statement after the ruling:  “Neither CACI nor any of its employees have been found or proven to be involved in” or “participated in” or “charged” with abuse, nor have they been indicted for “directing abuse.” Well, okay then. Americans are, after all, known for their notion of justice and fair play!

I’m Peter Dekom, and whether these prisoners were guilty or not, they have the right to confront US citizens and a company based in the United States working for the US government over claims of torture no matter where or why it occurred!