Slate-What consequences do the companies involved in Abu Ghraib face?

[maddezmom]

How To Discipline Private Contractors
What consequences do the companies involved in Abu Ghraib face?
By Phillip Carter
Posted Tuesday, May 4, 2004, at 3:10 PM PT


Criminal charges have been filed against the U.S. military personnel accused of torturing prisoners at Iraq's infamous Abu Ghraib prison. Reports have also alleged that government contractors coached these soldiers on how to abuse the Iraqis, in apparent violation of international and domestic law. These contractors are not subject to military justice, and so far, the Justice Department has taken no steps to prosecute them. When private military contractors break the law, what can be done to discipline them?

Quite a bit, as it turns out. Misbehaving firms can have their government contracts terminated; they can be barred from competing for future contracts; and they may also be subject to civil and criminal liability. However, nearly all of these penalties are at the discretion of the agency that issued the original contract. Procurement officials, political leaders, prosecutors, and judges get to decide whether to sanction contractors for allegedly breaking the law in Iraq.

The first and easiest way to discipline contractors is to fire them. Practically, this means terminating their government contract, cutting them off from thousands (or millions) of taxpayer dollars. The two contractors implicated in the Abu Ghraib scandal, CACI Corp. and Titan Corp., hold contracts with the Army for the provision of linguistic support at prison facilities in Iraq (among other things). Under Part 49 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations, the government may kill these contracts in the event of a "material breach" or other "default" on the contractor's part. Such a breach can mean simple failure to perform under the terms of the contract, as well as criminal conduct by employees or by the corporation itself. The discretion to terminate these agreements rests with the Army, though the contractors could appeal this decision to the courts.

~snip~

Government contractors can also be criminally prosecuted (as described in this "Jurisprudence" article) if they misbehave badly enough, but the Justice Department told the Wall Street Journal on Monday that it has no current plans to prosecute any contractors involved with the abuses at Abu Ghraib. Civil suits may also be brought against the contractors and the U.S. government, as was done following the U.S. Navy's downing of an Iranian passenger jet in 1988. Families of the dead passengers attempted to sue the government contractors who built the U.S.S. Vincennes and its weapons systems under the Federal Tort Claims Act. However, this lawsuit failed, in part because of a legal doctrine known as the "government contractor" defense, which shields government contractors from liability when they build something or provide services in accordance with government specifications. This defense, and other procedural obstacles, would likely prevent the Iraqi detainees from suing contractors in American courts for damages resulting from their treatment at Abu Ghraib.
More:http://slate.msn.com/id/2099954/

So it looks to be in Asscracks hands......what's he going to do?

[prodigal_green]

1. Did any of them have a late term abortion?

That might get the Justice Department's attention.