S.D. firm's workers said to be part of POW abuses

[seemslikeadream]

By Toby Eckert
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
May 5, 2004




Abuses in Iraq may impact Titan buyout



WASHINGTON – Employees of San Diego-based Titan Corp. and another civilian contractor are named as suspects or witnesses in a classified Army report about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, but company officials say they have heard little or nothing about the matter from the Pentagon.

"If we're asked, we will cooperate fully," Titan spokesman Wil Williams said. "We're unaware of any allegations against our employees or our company."

The report on the physical and psychological abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad identifies one suspect as Adel Nakhla, who is described as a civilian translator for Titan Corp. assigned to the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade.

The report says Nakhla was questioned about the treatment of several detainees accused of rape and quotes him as saying that two Army sergeants made the prisoners, who were naked, do "strange exercises" and then "started to stack them on top of each other" after handcuffing them and shackling their legs.

more
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20040505-9999-1n5suspect.html

[seemslikeadream]

1. Abuses in Iraq may impact Titan buyout

By Bruce V. Bigelow
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
May 5, 2004

Anxiety about San Diego-based Titan Corp.'s sale to Lockheed Martin surfaced again yesterday among certain high-risk investors who worried that political fallout over Iraqi prisoner abuses could inject new uncertainties into the proposed deal.

An internal Pentagon report, which was available yesterday on the Internet, said at least one translator employed by Titan was involved in alleged abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. Another translator involved was also identified in one part of the report as working for Titan but in other parts he was said to be working for CAIC International, an Arlington, Va. defense firm.

While largely a political issue, Wall Street analysts acknowledged that some high-risk investors are growing concerned that the public outcry over the abuses could somehow affect Lockheed's pending buyout of Titan.

Some arbitrage portfolio managers said privately their concerns were sparked chiefly by yesterday's sell-off in CACI International. CACI has been providing interrogation services to the U.S. Army in Iraq.

more
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20040505-9999-1b5titan.html

How To Discipline Private Contractors
What consequences do the companies involved in Abu Ghraib face?
By Phillip Carter
Posted Tuesday, May 4, 2004, at 3:10 PM PT


The first and easiest way to discipline contractors is to fire them. Practically, this means terminating their government contract, cutting them off from thousands (or millions) of taxpayer dollars. The two contractors implicated in the Abu Ghraib scandal, CACI Corp. and Titan Corp., hold contracts with the Army for the provision of linguistic support at prison facilities in Iraq (among other things). Under Part 49 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations, the government may kill these contracts in the event of a "material breach" or other "default" on the contractor's part. Such a breach can mean simple failure to perform under the terms of the contract, as well as criminal conduct by employees or by the corporation itself. The discretion to terminate these agreements rests with the Army, though the contractors could appeal this decision to the courts.

Government contractors can also be criminally prosecuted (as described in this "Jurisprudence" article) if they misbehave badly enough, but the Justice Department told the Wall Street Journal on Monday that it has no current plans to prosecute any contractors involved with the abuses at Abu Ghraib. Civil suits may also be brought against the contractors and the U.S. government, as was done following the U.S. Navy's downing of an Iranian passenger jet in 1988. Families of the dead passengers attempted to sue the government contractors who built the U.S.S. Vincennes and its weapons systems under the Federal Tort Claims Act. However, this lawsuit failed, in part because of a legal doctrine known as the "government contractor" defense, which shields government contractors from liability when they build something or provide services in accordance with government specifications. This defense, and other procedural obstacles, would likely prevent the Iraqi detainees from suing contractors in American courts for damages resulting from their treatment at Abu Ghraib.

more
http://slate.msn.com/id/2099954/

[ps1074]

2. comes to show the nature of the contractors

They're just mercenaries. Ex military guys that still hang out with their old buddies and meanwhile torturing civilians.

How on earth these "civilian contractors" ended up in the prison? I mean what business do they have there? And what business do they have with the prisoners?

If someone dares to dig deeper in this story we all be amazed of what can be found there. I am 101% this is widespread. F**king a**holes.

[seemslikeadream]

3. Private military companies in Iraq: profiting from colonialism

Private military companies in Iraq: profiting from colonialism
By James Conachy
May 4, 2004, 17:20

Operating behind a veil of state and corporate secrecy, dozens of private security firms with intimate connections to the American political establishment are playing a crucial role in the US occupation of Iraq. The wholesale contracting of military work to these companies is one of the most outrageous forms of war profiteering taking place under the auspices of the Bush administration. Modern-day mercenaries are amassing vast fortunes assisting the US ruling elite to establish a puppet regime in Iraq, repress the Iraqi people and plunder the country’s resources.

Security contractors, without uniforms or standardised identification, driving through the streets in unmarked vehicles, manning roadblocks or stalking outside buildings with machine-guns, have become a ubiquitous and offensive symbol of the US occupation.

Private military companies (PMCs) are contributing as much as 20 percent of the total US-led occupation force. At least 35 PMCs have contracts in Iraq, employing at least 5,000 heavily-armed foreign mercenaries and over 20,000 Iraqis to carry out explicitly military work in some of the most dangerous areas of the country. At least another 10,000 to 15,000 contractors from every corner of the globe are performing vital military logistical support roles such as driving, maintenance, training, communications and intelligence-gathering.

Among those who were torturing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad were contractors employed as interrogators and translators. One is accused of raping a young man. He has not been charged however. The mercenaries in Iraq have complete immunity from Iraqi law under an edict issued by the US Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA).

more
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_7202.shtml