Abu Ghraib prisoners accuse US companies of torture

Two US Army subcontractors accused of torturing prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib jail go to court Wednesday in a case that highlights the murky legal status of private US companies in Iraq. Titan and CACI International were hired by the Army to provide interrogators and interpreters at the notorious prison, the scene of well-documented abuses of detainees following the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. One former Iraqi prisoner now living in Sweden says that under the companies' watch, he was sodomized, nearly strangled with a belt, tied by his genitals to other detainees, and given repeated electric shocks. "This is probably the most important case still standing against Abu Ghraib because the cases against the government have essentially failed so far," said Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights. "This case represents our last hope for getting some accountability for the torture in Iraq and getting any compensation for the victims," said Ratner, whose group has fielded lawyers to assist in the lawsuit. The case was filed in 2004 by a dozen former prisoners and the family of a man who died in detention, accusing Titan and CACI of conspiring with US officials "to humiliate, torture and abuse persons" at Abu Ghraib. But US security companies in Iraq occupy a legal gray area. At the Oct. 3 hearing, Titan and CACI were to ask Washington federal judge James Robertson to dismiss the case. The companies argue that they cannot be tried as they were under the control of the Army, which in turn says it can only prosecute its own personnel, not civilians. Other US judges have refused to hear cases brought by former Iraqi prisoners, arguing that they have no jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed against foreigners in a third country. The sole US officer charged over the Abu Ghraib abuses, Lt. Col. Steven Jordan, escaped with just a reprimand at his court martial in late August. Eleven junior soldiers are serving varying sentences but no senior Pentagon official was ever charged in the scandal.