Experts: Four documents protect U.S. military, citizens

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“The CPA order says the transitional government cannot tamper with these arrangements as written, so servicemembers are protected until Iraq and a stable government. Troops’ immunity from local law remains as long as the transitional government is in power,” Noone said.

The documents also protect private contractors, Noone said.

“Typically, the protection does not extend to private contractors. The benefit to extending the protection is “because the country is so unstable and … they are recreating a legal system. Contractors otherwise might not be willing to send employees to a justice system that hasn’t worked for years.”

But there’s a loophole, he said.

“And that loophole may be that an American contractor could commit a crime overseas and the Iraqis couldn’t prosecute because of these documents and American authorities couldn’t prosecute. … American law traditionally didn’t travel overseas. If an American contractor in Germany shoots someone, it’s up to German authorities to prosecute them. American murder laws didn’t work overseas.”

However, it is possible that contractors and other U.S. civilians could be prosecuted by U.S. authorities under provisions in the American Servicemember and Citizen Protect Act of 2003, passed to keep American citizens from being prosecuted under the International Criminal Court.

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