Lawsuit Filed Against U.S. Contractors Over Iraq Abuse (Titan Corp & CACI)

[Khephra]

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.

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.

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.

"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.

more.......................

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5386050

[Barrett808]

1. New allegations of rape and murder

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.

Go "Team Titan"!

[Khephra]

2. kick

[Bandit]

3. I think Bush* implemented some ruling that holds everyone blameless

that contracts work in Iraq. They can do anything they wish and not be held accountable according to Bush*.

[spooked]

4. There's also a class-action suit against Titan for defrauding investors

http://finance.lycos.com/qc/news/story.aspx?story=200405121713_PZN_57448&symbols=INDUSTRY:31


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.

What do you suppose this one is all about!?
"(2) that foreign consultants for Titan made improper payments to foreign government officials in violation of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act;"

[seemslikeadream]

5. I don't know but it sounds really good

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

[TahitiNut]

12. The FCPA was enacted in the 70's but has been watered down

... 3-4 times since then. The most important part of the FCPA was the elimination of the pernicious pretense of executives' "plausible deniability" for wrong-doing and criminal acts undertaken on behalf of companies. The FCPA required that the company establish and maintain a system of internal management controls that would ensure all actions undertaken by or on behalf of the company by its employees or agents are consistent with management's intents. Any failure to do so makes the management personally culpable for those acts to the same extent and degree as if they'd specifically authorized and approved of them.

In my view, the passage of the FCPA in the 70's marked the beginning of a decline in government restraint over the abuses and excesses of corporation bother domestically and internationally.

In other words, Toto, we're in deep doodoo 30 years later, over 2/3rds of which have seen wholesale surrender of wealth, power, and privilege to the corporatocracy.

[seemslikeadream]

6. Chain of command by Seymour Hersh

While I'm looking for an foreign connection I know Tinoire talked about I thought I post this

[Just Me]

11. Thanks, Dream. I love those "logic" trees.

I miss Tinoire.

[CHIMO]

7. CCR FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST PRIVATE CONTRACTORS FOR TORTURE CONSPIRACY

http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/reports/report.asp?ObjID=TutDBqRhAY&Content=387


Synopsis

Two U.S. corporations conspired with U.S. officials to humiliate, torture and abuse persons detained by U.S. authorities in Iraq according to a class action lawsuit filed June 9, 2004, by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the Philadelphia law firm of Montgomery, McCracken, Walker and Rhoads. The suit, filed in federal court in San Diego, names as defendants the Titan Corporation of San Diego, California and CACI International of Arlington, Virginia and its subsidiaries, and three individuals who work for the companies. It charges them with violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and alleges that the companies engaged in a wide range of heinous and illegal acts in order to demonstrate their abilities to obtain intelligence from detainees, and thereby obtain more contracts from the government.

From the CCR web site.

[seemslikeadream]

8. A post from Tinoire

That's Iraq - Now check out Israel in 2000 / Sandbags over the head etc


Picture from this Feb 2000 article: Israel admits torture

<snip>

An official Israeli report has acknowledged for the first time that the Israeli security service tortured detainees during the Palestinian uprising, the Intifada, between 1988 and 1992.


The report, written five years ago but kept secret until now, said the leadership of the security service Shin Bet knew about the torture but did nothing to stop it.

The report did not detail the torture methods used, but human rights organisations say some detainees died or were left paralysed.

<snip>

The report acknowledged that the security issues faced by the agents at the time were unprecedented, and that they succeeded in preventing a number of guerilla attacks.

The report describes this activity as "holy work" but criticises the methods used and recommends measures to ensure that they be stopped.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/637293.stm
====

Skipping forward to 2004...

May 10, 2004

The Israeli Torture Template
Rape, Feces and Urine-Dipped Cloth Sacks
By WAYNE MADSEN


With mounting evidence that a shadowy group of former Israeli Defense Force and General Security Service (Shin Bet) Arabic-speaking interrogators were hired by the Pentagon under a classified "carve out" sub-contract to brutally interrogate Iraqi prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, one only needs to examine the record of abuse of Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners in Israel to understand what Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld meant, when referring to new, yet to be released photos and videos, he said, "if these images are released to the public, obviously its going to make matters worse."

According to a political appointee within the Bush administration and U.S. intelligence sources, the interrogators at Abu Ghraib included a number of Arabic-speaking Israelis who also helped U.S. interrogators develop the "R2I" (Resistance to Interrogation) techniques. Many of the torture methods were developed by the Israelis over many years of interrogating Arab prisoners on the occupied West Bank and in Israel itself.

Clues about worse photos and videos of abuse may be found in Israeli files about similar abuse of Palestinian and other Arab prisoners. In March 2000, a lawyer for a Lebanese prisoner kidnapped in 1994 by the Israelis in Lebanon claimed that his client had been subjected to torture, including rape. The type of compensation offered by Rumsfeld in his testimony has its roots in cases of Israeli torture of Arabs. In the case of the Lebanese man, said to have been raped by his Israeli captors, his lawyer demanded compensation of $1.47 million. The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel documented the types of torture meted out on Arab prisoners. Many of the tactics coincide with those contained in the Taguba report: beatings and prolonged periods handcuffed to furniture. In an article in the December 1998 issue of The Progressive, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb reported on the treatment given to a 23-year old Palestinian held on "administrative detention." The prisoner was "cuffed behind a chair 17 hours a day for 120 days . . . had his head covered with a sack, which was often dipped in urine or feces. Guards played loud music right next to his ears and frequently taunted him with threats of physical and sexual violence." If additional photos and videos document such practices, the Bush administration and the American people have, indeed, "seen nothing yet."

<snip>


http://www.counterpunch.org/madsen05102004.html

[Disturbed]

9. Out of Court Setlements.

My best guess because these Corps will surely not wish these cases in the public.

[Just Me]

10. My hope is that CCR takes it all the way.

Of course, there is now a duty to engage in "good faith" settlement negotiations. Nevertheless, part of those negotiations could, in "good faith" include a public apology *LOL*.

Oh, geez,...this is the kind of case that could force change and these corporate tyrants know it. I cannot even imagine the kind of battle that may be involved in this suit.