New Law Could Subject Civilians to Military Trial (WaPo)

[spindrifter]

By Griff Witte
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 15, 2007

Private contractors and other civilians serving with U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan could be subject for the first time to military courts-martial under a new federal provision that legal scholars say is almost certain to spark constitutional challenges.

The provision, which was slipped into a spending bill at the end of the last Congress, is intended to close a long-standing loophole that critics say puts contractors in war zones above the law.

But the provision also could affect others accompanying U.S. forces in the field, including civilian government employees and embedded journalists.

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Critics have long complained that, unlike soldiers, contractors are rarely prosecuted for their actions, even after evidence surfaced that contractors mistreated prisoners or fired on U.S. troops.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/14/AR2007011400906.html