CACI International, the contracting firm accused of systematic torture and abuse in Iraq, has threatened to sue the original publisher of a recent article that appeared on Antiwar.com.<\/p>\n
Antiwar.com has an agreement withThe New Standard<\/I><\/a>, an alternative news Web publication, to run many of their original news investigative articles. A recent article by Lisa Ashkenaz Croke<\/a> prompted a letter to The New Standard<\/I>‘s editor, Brian Dominick, accusing them of “defaming” the company accused of torturing hundreds of Iraqi prisoners on behalf of the Pentagon.<\/p>\n We have been very impressed with the quality of reporting the The New Standard<\/I>, whose articles by Dahr Jamail and others we have been regularly carrying for about six months. I am confident that this threat the CACI is an attempt to silence one of the more outspoken critics of such torture.<\/p>\n I am posting Brian Dominick’s blog post below in its entirity:<\/p>\n There’s nothing quite as thrilling as receiving a letter from a fancy corporate law firm addressed to me as “Brian Dominick, Editor” — it means I upset someone powerful.<\/p>\n And so we seem to have done with Lisa Croke<\/a>‘s recent article on new allegations of abuse and torture<\/a> throughout US-run prisons in Iraq, which we posted on September 23rd. The lawyers who wrote us the scolding letter (Steptoe and Johnson LLP — you can’t make this stuff up, folks) are upset that we have “cast aspersions” on the “character, prestige and standing” of CACI International — Steptoe’s client — “within its field of business.” They say our article “constitutes defamation,” and they point out that it does so “per se<\/em>” (which means they couldn’t write a whole letter without using an impressive legal term).<\/p>\n Well, we showed the letter to our industry-renowned legal department. The team of high-priced lawyers there (who work on Saturdays just in case) said we should encourage CACI International to sue The NewStandard<\/em>.<\/p>\n Evidently, the list of attorneys who would line up to defend us pro bono <\/em>(we know some legal terms, too!)<\/em>in a defamation case is longer than the list even a big military industrial complex partner like CACI could ever afford — especially given that the suit would bring them untold negative attention and probably expand our readership multifold.<\/p>\n Now, as to the substance of CACI’s letter, there might be something to address without posturing. CACI’s claims about our “misrepresentation” of them aside, the letter constitutes the direct response to anything raised by reporters that I am aware of.<\/p>\n Their website<\/font><\/u><\/a> is chock-full of FAQ-type documents<\/a> and press statements<\/a> that contain responses to various accusations, but the company wouldn’t speak to me when I contacted them for a response to a previous report, and they haven’t given interviews to any journalists that I’ve seen. And, in fact, even the Army wouldn’t talk to us about the scope CACI’s role in Iraq.<\/p>\n One part of the letter reads: <\/p>\n In fact, none of the reports issued [by the US government] to date states that any CACI employee is guilty of any criminal behavior.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n I guess CACI’s lawyers haven’t read the Taguba report<\/a>, which says:<\/p>\n Mr. Steven Stephanowicz [sic], Contract US Civilian Interrogator, CACI, 205th Military Intelligence Brigade, be given an Official Reprimand to be placed in his employment file, termination of employment, and generation of a derogatory report to revoke his security clearance for the following acts which have been previously referred to in the aforementioned findings:<\/p>\n You’ll recall that the “setting conditions” accusations formed some of the clearest indication of the systemic nature of torture uncovered at Abu Ghraib — at least, that is, until lawyer Shereef Akeel<\/a> and his colleagues at the Center for Constitutional Rights<\/a> began discovering evidence that unethical interrogation tactics and other abuses are remarkably consistent throughout US-run faciliies all over Iraq.<\/p>\n For good measure, that same report also lists Mr. Stefanowicz among people who “were either directly or indirectly responsible for the abuses at Abu Ghraib.”<\/p>\n
\nCACI Int’l v. NewStandard: Goliath Stirs<\/h3>\n
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