Rights group slams U.S. over private security contractors in Iraq

[Barrett808]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

Rights group slams U.S. over private security contractors in Iraq
By Barbara Barrett | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — An international human-rights organization said Wednesday that a lack of political will — not a fuzzy legal framework — was primarily to blame for the dearth of prosecutions of private security contractors accused of abuses in Iraq.

Human Rights First said the Justice Department had failed to hold such contractors accountable, amounting to what the organization calls a "culture of impunity."

"The biggest obstacle is not the law, but political will," said Maureen Byrnes, the executive director of the group, which is based in New York and Washington.

A Justice Department spokesman disputed the report's findings. The spokesman, Paul Bresson, said there was no lack of political will in the department to investigating the cases involving contractors but that the complications of investigating overseas could slow the process. "Obviously we strongly disagree with the report's conclusions," Bresson said.

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