The lawsuit was based on general Taguba’s report

WASHINGTON, June 10 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Nine ex-Iraqi detainees filed Wednesday, June 9, a lawsuit against two U.S. companies over involvement in abusing them during detention at Abu Ghraib prison.

The lawsuit charges that employees of San Diego-based Titan Corp. and Virginia-based CACI International, contracted for interpretation and interrogation services respectively, "systematically tortured prisoners to extract more information and increase the firms' chances of winning future contracts," reported the Los Angeles Times Thursday, June 10.

"When war becomes a for-profit enterprise, horror, human suffering and degradation is the dividend," said Barbara Olshansky, deputy legal director for the Center for Constitutional Rights, a Washington-based legal foundation championing the case.

The lawyers acknowledged at a news conference Wednesday that none of their clients had been able to identify the people who tortured them or say whether they worked for contractors or the U.S. government.

The lawyers added that their clients were hooded during the abuse and the abusers concealed their identities.

They elaborated, however, that the suit is based on a report by U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba which documented "sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses" at Abu Ghraib.

The report also identified several contractor employees in connection with the abuse seen in the photos taken at the Abu Ghraib prison.

About 15,000 personnel from private military firms (PMFs) are operating in Iraq, according to the estimation of Peter Singer, author of "Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry".

Such numbers make the neo-mercenaries the second largest force in Iraq after the U.S. occupation force.

Claude Salhani, International Editor of United Press International (UPI), explains that the term civil contractors is nothing more than a replica of the now outdated term mercenaries.

Companies Deny

However, the two companies involved in the lawsuit rejected the accusations and denied any wrongdoing, reported LA Times.

"CACI summarily rejects and denies the ill-informed, slanderous and malicious allegations of the lawsuit that attempts to malign the work that we do on behalf of the U.S. government around the world and in Iraq," the company said in a statement.

Steven A. Stefanowicz, a CACI employee identified in the Taguba report, was one of three people named as defendants in Wednesday's lawsuit.

His lawyer, Henry E. Hockeimer, declined to comment on the lawsuit but reiterated that his client had done nothing wrong, the paper said.

Executives of CACI added they were cooperating with five government investigations in connection with the company's contract to supply interrogators in Iraq.

In addition, the company has announced its own internal investigation, said the LA Times.

Titan executives called the lawsuit "frivolous" and said the U.S. government had not informed Titan of any wrongdoing by either the company or its employees.

"We will vigorously defend against" the lawsuit, the paper quoted Wil Williams, a company spokesman, as saying.

"Titan has never provided interrogation or interrogation services to anyone."

Titan has fired one employee named in the Taguba report, Adel L. Nakhla, but declined to say why.

Nakhla was also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

LA Times said his lawyer, Francis Hoang, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Unspeakable Crimes

The more Iraqis released, the more the world knows about the abuse scandal

According to the Associated Press (AP), some of the new abuse allegations were among the cruelest described so far within the Iraqi prisons.

One prisoner, identified in court documents only as Rasheed, told lawyers his tongue was shocked with electricity and his toenails pulled out while another, named Ahmed, said he was forced to watch while his 63-year-old father, Ibrahiem, was tortured to death.

A plaintiff identified as Neisef told lawyers he was raped by a female interrogator who left him naked on the floor, saying "It is our job to take your manhood away."

Shereef Akeel, a Detroit lawyer, said the people he helps represent in the case were "subjected to unspeakable crimes."

The lawsuit seeks "substantial" payments for the alleged victims and a ban on future government contracts for Titan and CACI, said the AP.

The Washington Post on Friday, May 21, a new photo gallery and a video clip of Iraqis being beaten and sexually humiliated and sworn testimonies by assaulted prisoners. (Click here to read the statements).