Human rights groups file racketeering lawsuit over Iraq abuses

[Judi Lynn]

Human rights groups file racketeering lawsuit over Iraq abuses


By TED BRIDIS
The Associated Press
6/10/04 7:47 AM


WASHINGTON (AP) -- An unusual racketeering lawsuit filed by human rights lawyers accuses U.S. civilian contractors at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq of conspiring to execute, rape and torture prisoners to boost corporate profits from military payments.

The lawsuit seeks "substantial" payments for the alleged victims and a ban on future government contracts for Titan Corp. of San Diego and CACI International Inc. of Arlington, Va., whose employees worked as government interrogators and translators.

Some of the new abuse allegations were among the cruelest described so far within the Iraqi prisons.

One person, identified in court documents only as a prisoner named Rasheed, told lawyers his tongue was shocked with electricity and his toenails pulled out. Another person, identified only as a prisoner named Ahmed, said he was forced to watch while his 63-year-old father, Ibrahiem, was tortured to death.
(snip/...)

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/business/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?f0020_BC_PrisonerAbuse-Lawsuit&&news&newsflash-financial

[Richardo]

1. I heard this on NPR this morning and it ROCKS!!

Although I heard they were going to prosecute Titan and CACI under the RICO statutes. That makes it criminal :thumbsup: (!).

This is just what I was saying when the whole thing came to light...yank the billion-dollar private sector contracts, no second chances, no future bids. THEN you'll see these companies straighten out FAST.

But I still don;t think they have any place performing military functions. But that's another argument.

[Just Me]

2. I wish them huge success.

Discovery could prove to be VERY enlightening!!!

[iconoclastic cat]

3. RICO is the best tool to fight organized crime---like the Rebublican Party

Got that, Don Cheney?

[Auntie Bush]

7. Let's call them the Ricoblican party.

[Tellurian]

4. It would be good if the people who scripted the torture be subjected

to the same treatment.

Yes, especially the evil Gonzales, Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld!

Would Bush survive pulling his toenails out by the roots?

[Jack Rabbit]

5. Human Rights Watch: Bush Policies Led to Abuse in Iraq

i]From Human Rights Watch
Dated Wednesday June 9

Bush Policies Led to Abuse in Iraq

The torture and mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison was the predictable result of the Bush administration's decision to circumvent international law, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.
The 38-page report, “The Road to Abu Ghraib,” examines how the Bush administration adopted a deliberate policy of permitting illegal interrogation techniques – and then spent two years covering up or ignoring reports of torture and other abuse by U.S. troops.
“The horrors of Abu Ghraib were not simply the acts of individual soldiers,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “Abu Ghraib resulted from decisions made by the Bush administration to cast the rules aside.”
According to Human Rights Watch, administration policies created the climate for Abu Ghraib in three ways.

• First, in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the Bush administration decided that the war on terror permitted the United States to circumvent the restraints of international law . . . .
• Second, the United States employed coercive methods to inflict pain and humiliation on detainees to “soften them up” for interrogation . . . .
• Third, until the publication of the Abu Ghraib photographs, Bush administration officials took at best a “see no evil, hear no evil” approach to reports of detainee mistreatment.

Read the HRW report: The Road to Abu Ghraib.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Thanks, Jack Rabbit, for posting this HRW document..........

Here's something about which we've heard nothing at all:

DISAPPEARANCES

Among the most disturbing cases, perhaps unprecedented in U.S. history, are the detainees who have simply been “disappeared.”26 Perhaps out of concern that Guantánamo will eventually be monitored by the U.S. courts, certainly to ensure even greater secrecy, the Bush administration does not appear to hold its most sensitive and high-profile detainees there. Terrorism suspects like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, accused architect of the September 11 attacks, and Abu Zubaydah, a close aide of Osama bin Laden, are detained by the United States instead in “undisclosed locations,” presumably outside the United States, with no access to the ICRC, no notification to families, no oversight of any sort of their treatment, and in most cases no acknowledgement that they are even being held. Human Rights Watch has pieced together information on 13 such detainees, apprehended in places such as Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates, who have “disappeared” in U.S. custody.

[Jack Rabbit]

10. You're welcome

If you want to keep discussing the HRW report, I've opened a thread in the main Foreign Affairs forum.

Some of us use FA main as a human rights forum. If you have a human rights issue, you can post it there.

[Joanne98]

6. Now we're getting somewhere.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An unusual racketeering lawsuit filed by human rights lawyers accuses U.S. civilian contractors at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq of conspiring to execute, rape and torture prisoners to boost corporate profits from military payments.

The only way to deal with the "Tony Soprano Republican Party" is to treat them just like the mafia. I'm glad the world is finally fiquring this out. God knows it took long enough. I hope they seize the property of all the mercenaries on earth. Starting with the American companies first. God Bless Human Rights Groups :)

[iconoclastic cat]

8. Mmmmmm----organized crime....

[loudsue]

11. They need to file RICO suits against Cheney & Halliburton, Bush & Carlyle

And start tying these guys in with the actual "rackets" they're running at the root cause of everything....bombing Iraq to rebuild for Halliburton, and starting the war to profit a host of contracts tied to Carlyle. And then there's Riggs Bank!

If these aren't criminal-running enterprises, then there's no such thing as a "racket".

Bring 'em all down!

:kick::kick::kick:

[Barrett808]

12. Link to the complaint document

http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/legal/september_11th/docs/Al_Rawi_v_Titan_Complaint.pdf

[struggle4progress]

13. kick

:kick:

[bobbieinok]

14. fantastic

[seemslikeadream]

15. violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange

http://finance.lycos.com/qc/news/story.aspx?story=200405121713_PZN_574...


NEW YORK, May 12, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Law Firm of Geller Rudman, PLLC announced today that a class action lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California on behalf of purchasers of The Titan Corporation ("Titan" or the "Company") (NYSE:TTN) common stock during the period between July 24, 2003 and March 22, 2004, inclusive (the "Class Period"). A copy of the complaint filed in this action is available from the Court, or can be viewed on the firm's website at http://www.geller rudman.com/view_case.asp?cID=268.

The Complaint alleges that Titan, Gene Ray, Mark Sopp, and Deanna Lund violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Rule 10b 5 promulgated thereunder. The Complaint alleges that defendants made material misstatements with respect to the Company's financial results. More specifically, the Complaint alleges that defendants failed to disclose and indicate the following in defendants' effort to get its merger with Lockheed Martin Corporation ("Lockheed Martin") approved by shareholders and various regulators: (1) that foreign consultants for Titan were engaging in questionable and potentially illegal activities; (2) that foreign consultants for Titan made improper payments to foreign government officials in violation of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; (3) that Titan improperly accounted for the funds used in these payments; and (4) as a result, Titan's improper accounting for such payments allowed Titan to enter into a definitive merger agreement with Lockheed Martin.

that foreign consultants for Titan made improper payments to foreign government officials in violation of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act;"

[0007]

16. Do I hear the bells at The Hague ringing for justice?

"Rasheed, told lawyers his tongue was shocked with electricity and his toenails pulled out. Another person, identified only as a prisoner named Ahmed, said he was forced to watch while his 63-year-old father, Ibrahiem, was tortured to death.

.....and then we hear from this scumbag..... CACI said the company "summarily rejects and denies the ill-informed, slanderous and malicious allegations of the lawsuit that attempts to malign the work that we do on behalf of the U.S. government around the world and in Iraq."

These charges will go right to the top and I hope all those involved including Tommy Franks wind up at the Hague.