"Judges Silberman and Kavanaugh have now become Accessories After the Fact to torture, war crimes and felonies in violation of United States federal law and international criminal law, Boyle asserted. (See if they are ever prosecuted!)
Dissenter Judge Merrick Garland, appointed by President Bill Clinton, argued the law does not protect independent contractors, particularly when they are accused of acting outside the rules or instructions of their military overseers. But where Silberman said most of the claims were limited to "abuse or "harm, not war crimes or torture, according to Courthouse News Service, Garland "found the claims much more alarming.
"The plaintiffs in these cases allege they were beaten, electrocuted, raped, subjected to attacks by dogs, and otherwise abused by private contractors working as interpreters and interrogators at Abu Ghraib prison, Garland said.
"No act of Congress and no judicial precedent bars the plaintiffs from suing the private contractors---who were neither soldiers nor civilian government employees, he wrote.
"Neither President Obama nor President Bush nor any other Executive Branch official has suggested that subjecting the contractors to tort liability for the conduct at issue here would interfere with the nation's foreign policy or the Executive's ability to wage war, Garland pointed out.
"To
the contrary, the Department of Defense has repeatedly stated that employees of
private contractors accompanying the Armed Forces in the field are not within the military's chain of
command, and that such contractors are subject to civil liability,"he
wrote.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
