Daily Kos: CCR to sue Iraq mercenary outfits

iconoclastic cat

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Wed Jun-09-04 06:32 AM
Original message

Daily Kos: CCR to sue Iraq mercenary outfits

Edited on Wed Jun-09-04 06:39 AM by iconoclastic cat

CCR to sue Iraq mercenary outfits
by kos
Wed Jun 9th, 2004 at 02:45:11 EDT
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/6/9/24511/57794
The Center for Constitutional Rights, the outfit representing the Gitmo detainees, will announce a RICO lawsuit against the CACI and TITAN mercenary outfits. The two companies former a joint "Team Titan" to provide "interrogation" services to the US military.

These are the Abu Grahib post-Saddam torturers.

The lawsuit will rest, at least in part (leaked details are sketchy), on the Alien Tort Claims Act, which allows non-US nationals access to U.S. courts. The Bush Administration has requested the Supreme Court rule this law, passed by the first Congress, unconstitutional. RICO statutes and the 14th Amendment promise to play a role as well.

The official announcement will come at 1 p.m. EST Wednesday. Expect some media attention.

Incidentally, CCR has also posted the full "the president is king and can subvert US law in regards to torture" memo. This is the same memo that Ashcroft refused to release to angry Democratic senators.
*****
--Um, is anyone else freaked out by the fact that pages are missing?

--Further down, someone linked to a Discourse.net explanation of the first half of the memo:
http://www.discourse.net/archives/2004/06/apologia_pro_tormento_analyzing_the_first_56_pages_of_the_walker_working_group_report_aka_the_torture_memo.html

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--Also, a PDF of the memo:
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/military_0604.pdf

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--We should all be concerned that this stuff will fall down the memory hole:
Spread the word (none / 0)

The memo is key, absolutely key. We here on dKos sometimes forget, in our useful and insightful conversations with each other, to share the things we learn here with our friends and neighbors who don't check blogs, whose connection to the news and events is a few minutes of the Today show caught on the way to work in the morning. Explain to them the memo, what it says, what it means, and how the administration tried to bury it, in simple and non-snarky terms. Just lay it out, straightforwardly. No need to spin it, it spins itself. American would be shocked and appalled if they knew of this, and if they weren't, it'd add one more level of cognitive dissonance that will eventually come apart once Bush's remaining supporters have too much complexity to deal with.

Particularly with Reagan dominating the news this week, we MUST ensure this does not slip under the radar. Tell everyone you know about this. Perhaps direct them to the CCR website for more info. This will grow legs only if we make them grow via our activism.

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--And, for me, the most salient point:
Is Bush's signature anywhere? (none / 0)

The memos seem to stress the idea of releasing our bad actors from potential liability by way of presidential authorization. Does this mean Bush's signature might actually be floating around somewhere on a torture authorization memo just waiting to be leaked by someone? Would this be an undeniable, irrefutable smoking gun? (BTW, I realize there's enough current evidence for a sane person to conclude that these evil-doers should be put away for good, but it seems like nothing short of a video of W pushing the plunger on the WTC will wake people up).

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--There are also some connections to the push by Bush to reform Tort law to protect a president! Yikes.

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Now, if DUers can show up at a stupid online poll by the tens of thousands, then pushing this issue should not be a problem.

Thanks for sticking with this very long post!