This week Judge James Robertson of the Federal D.C. District Court denied a motion to dismiss a civil suit brought against CACI International, a military contractor working in the Abu Ghraib prison, alleging abuse and torture by its employees.  A U.S. military investigation into the 2003 abuse scandal revealed the complicity of several CACI employees, found to have used attack dogs in interrogations and to have contorted detainees into “stress positions.”  Four Iraqi men, detained in the prison from 2003-2004 and released without charges, have filed individual suits against CACI and another contractor in four separate U.S. courts.

CACI contends that it should be immune from prosecution, as its employees were following the orders of the U.S. military.  However, Robertson found that the corporation did have its own command and a level of independence that trumps this traditional immunity. 

CACI International maintains that its employees had no involvement with the abuse that took place in Abu Ghraib, stating:

“”CACI has unequivocally renounced any abuse of detainees in Iraq and has cooperated fully in all government inquiries relating to detainee abuse. The court’s ruling today only declined to end the lawsuit now.”

Source: The Washington Post