- WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Two
U.S. defense contractors were accused in a class-action suit on Wednesday
of conspiring with U.S. officials to torture and abuse prisoners in Iraq.
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- The suit, filed in San Diego, alleged San-Diego based
Titan Corp. and CACI International of Arlington, Virginia, engaged in "heinous
and illegal acts" to show they could get intelligence from detainees,
and thereby obtain more government contracts.
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- Employees from both firms, which provided interrogation
and translation services in Iraq, were named in a report on Iraqi prison
abuse by U.S. Army investigator Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba.
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- "We believe that CACI and Titan engaged in a conspiracy
to torture and abuse detainees and did so to make more money," said
Philadelphia-based lawyer Susan Burke who filed the suit along with New
York-based Center for Constitutional Rights.
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- The two companies are accused of violating the Racketeer
Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, an anti-conspiracy law originally
enacted to target organized crime.
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- Titan spokesman Wil Williams called the lawsuit "frivolous"
and said the company would aggressively defend itself against the charges.
He said the Titan employee named in the Taguba report, Adel Nahkla, had
since left the company.
-
- CACI did not immediately respond to phone calls asking
for comment.
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- The lawsuit charged that Stephen Stefanowicz and John
Israel of CACI Inc. and Nahkla "directed and participated in illegal
conduct" at the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad.
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- Evidence given to lawyers by former Iraqi inmates did
not directly link employees from either Titan or CACI to their abuse, said
Burke, adding this came from the Taguba report.
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- However, inmates distinguished between uniformed interrogators
and those in civilian clothing and had provided names, descriptions and
nicknames of abusers.
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- GRAPHIC ABUSE
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- The lawsuit said plaintiffs were hooded and raped, subject
to repeated beatings and stripped naked and one was allegedly forced to
watch his father tortured and abused so badly that he later died.
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- Other complaints included being urinated on and otherwise
humiliated and being prevented from praying, said the lawsuit.
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- "We have not heard everything yet, the stories are
coming out," said Shereef Hadi Akeel, a Detroit-based lawyer who interviewed
some of the plaintiffs by telephone from Iraq.
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- A host of U.S. military investigations has been launched
into the abuse and torture of Iraqi prisoners. Graphic photographs leaked
to the media show naked prisoners simulating sex acts and being attacked
by dogs.
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- The lawsuit also alleged CACI and Titan created a joint
enterprise with a third party that became known as "Team Titan"
which was hired by the United States to provide interrogation services
in Iraq.
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- Titan spokesman Williams said he did not know of any
joint enterprise with CACI and had not heard of "Team Titan."
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- Nine plaintiffs were named on the lawsuit, including
Sami Abbas Al Rawi, Mwafaq Sami Abbaas al Rawi as well as individuals who
gave only their first names and others who were not named because of the
graphic nature of their complaints and fear of retribution, lawyers said.
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