Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 10. Juni 2004 / Time Line June 10, 2004
Version 3.006/10/2004
Forsvarsforlig 2004, aftale om forsvarets
ordning 2005-2009, indgås. Mobiliseringsforsvaret
nedlægges og erstattes af to brigader, hvoraf 1. brigade skal
bestå af ca. 3.500 professionelle soldater, 2 brigade skal
bestå af en professionel kerne og cirka 4000 soldater
på rådighedskontrakt. Den danske internationale brigade
nedlægges af økonomiske årsager.
Den generelle tjenestetid for militærnægtere
nedsættes til fire måneder.
Litteratur: Brøndum, Christian: Hæren bliver
mindre end lovet i forlig. I: Berlingske Tidende,
11/05/2004.
French, Sandy: Bredt forlig om forsvaret. I:
Information, 06/11/2004.
Leder: Forsvar for en ny tid. I: Information,
06/14/2004.
Reiz Bjerregaard, Trine: Forsvarsforlig koster dyrbar
ingenørviden : Flertallet af ingeniører i
Forsvaret vil ikke med, når deres arbejdsplads flytter.
I: Ingeniøren, 06/18/2004.
Terp, Holger:
Forsvarsforlig 2005-2009 inspireret at Fredskommissionen af
1998
S kræver flere soldater til indsatsstyrke / Sandy
French ; Pia Fris Laneth. I: Information, 11/23/2004.
06/10/2004
Contractors Sued Over Abu Ghraib Abuses
By: Shannon P. Duffy
© 2004 Law.com and the Legal Intelligencer
Thursday, June 10, 2004 -- Three Philadelphia lawyers are part of a
national team that filed a class-action civil RICO suit Wednesday
against two U.S. corporations for allegedly conspiring in the
torture, rape, murder and abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the
now-infamous Abu Ghraib prison.
Attorneys Susan L. Burke and Joyce S. Meyers of Montgomery
McCracken Walker & Rhoads and professor Susan Feathers of the
University of Pennsylvania Law School are part of an 11-lawyer team
that filed the suit in U.S. District Court in San Diego on behalf
of more than 1,000 Iraqi detainees.
Named as defendants in the suit are Titan Corp.
of San Diego and CACI International of
Arlington, Va., along with three individuals who work for the
companies.
The suit alleges that the two companies "engaged in a wide range of
heinous and illegal acts in order to demonstrate their abilities to
obtain intelligence from detainees, and thereby obtain more
contracts from the government," a statement issued by the
plaintiffs' lawyers says.
Joining the Philadelphia lawyers in filing the suit are six lawyers
from the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York -- Michael
Ratner, Barbara Olshanky, Jeffrey Fogel, Jennifer Green, Judith
Brown Chomsky and Jules Lobel -- as well as Shereef Hadi Akeel of
Melamed Daily & Akeel in Huntington Woods, Mich., and William
J. Aceves of San Diego, serving as local counsel.
The suit alleges that three individual defendants -- Stephen
Stephanowicz and John Israel of CACI and Adel Nahkla of Titan --
directed and participated in illegal conduct at the Abu Ghraib
prison in Iraq.
Stephanowicz hails from Telford, Pa.
All three employees were implicated in abuses in the investigative
report by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba.
According to an Associated Press report, a series of government
lawyers' memos -- many of them still secret but leaked to the media
this week -- said the president had the legal authority to allow
torture of detainees during interrogations. Administration
officials, however, have insisted that such a policy never was
adopted.
In the RICO suit, plaintiffs' lawyers contend that CACI and Titan
created a "joint enterprise" that became known as "Team Titan." The
suit says the two contractors were hired by the United States to
provide interrogation services in Iraq, but that the abusive
tactics they used violated both federal and international law.
Some of the abuse allegations outlined in the suit are among the
cruelest described within the Iraqi prisons.
One person, identified in court documents only as a prisoner named
Rasheed, told lawyers his tongue was shocked and his toenails
pulled out. A second person, identified as a prisoner named Ahmed,
said he was forced to watch while his 63-year-old father was
tortured to death. The suit seeks payments for the alleged victims
and a ban on future government contracts for Titan and CACI.
In addition to the RICO claim, the suit cites claims under the
Alien Tort Claims Act and the Eighth, Fifth and 14th amendments to
the U.S. Constitution as well as other U.S. and international
laws.
Titan spokesman Wil Williams said the company considers the lawsuit
"frivolous."
Williams said Titan's contract with the government involves only
"linguistic services" and that Titan was never hired to participate
in prisoner interrogations.
A recent statement by Titan suggests that the company may be in the
midst of negotiating a deal with the U.S. Justice Department to
plead guilty to criminal charges, but Williams said the potential
charges are "completely unrelated" to the abuse at Abu Ghraib.
In a statement released on Monday, Titan announced that its
stockholders had overwhelmingly approved a proposed merger with
Lockheed Martin Corp. The announcement directly addressed the
prospect of possible criminal charges against Titan.
"It is a condition to Lockheed Martin's obligation to complete the
merger either that Titan have obtained a written statement from the
Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice that it
considers its investigation of alleged violations of the Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act resolved as to Titan and its subsidiaries and
does not intend to pursue any claims as to Titan and its
subsidiaries in respect of such alleged violations, or that Titan
must have entered into a plea agreement with the Department of
Justice and completed the sentencing process including entry of the
requisite judgment," the Titan press release says.
"Any plea agreement is subject to Lockheed Martin's prior consent,
which may not be unreasonably withheld or delayed," the statement
says. The statement hints that action on the criminal charges could
come very soon.
"Either party may terminate the merger agreement if the conditions
are not satisfied or waived and the merger is not completed by June
25, 2004, provided that if Titan enters into a plea agreement with
the United States Department of Justice Criminal Division on or
before June 25, 2004, then the parties may terminate the merger
agreement if the merger is not completed by the earlier of three
business days after a judgment signed by a United States district
court judge has been entered or Sept. 24, 2004," the statement
says.
Williams said he cannot discuss the criminal investigation, except
to say that it relates to "international sales" and that it is "not
connected in any way to the situation in Iraq."
The Titan employee named in the suit, Adel Nahkla, has been
terminated, Williams said. In the report by Taguba, he said, Nahkla
was identified only as a "suspect or witness."
Williams said the company intends to "vigorously defend" itself
against the allegations.
CACI spokeswoman Jody Brown said the allegations in the federal
suit "are irresponsible and outrageous."
"CACI regards these allegations as false and malicious," Brown said
in a written statement.
Brown said CACI officials "do not condone, tolerate or endorse any
illegal behavior by our employees in any circumstance or at any
time," and that the company "will act forcefully if the evidence
shows that any of our employees acted improperly."
But Brown emphasized that "no charges have been filed against any
of our employees."
The lawsuit, she said, makes "vicious, blanket accusations that
dishonor our people and our company. Our people are doing good work
in life-threatening circumstances and we are proud of them. We will
defend the reputation of our people and our company and we will
fight this false and malicious suit with all of our strength."
But the plaintiffs' lawyers insisted that the suit has merit and
that the two contractors were directly involved in the abuses at
Abu Ghraib. "We believe that CACI and Titan engaged in a conspiracy
to torture and abuse detainees, and did so to make more money,"
said Burke of Montgomery McCracken.
"These corporations saw an opportunity to build their businesses by
proving they could extract information from detainees in Iraq, by
any means necessary. In doing so they not only violated a raft of
domestic and international statutes but diminished America's
stature and reputation around the world," Burke said.
Fogel, the legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights,
said, "CACI and Titan perpetrated brutal human rights abuses to
obtain information, a practice that is not only barbaric but leads
to false confessions. The modern way to describe this is
outsourcing torture; in the old days we'd call these people
mercenaries."
Akeel said, "America is about accountability, and this lawsuit is
intended to hold accountable those who are responsible for the
wrongs they committed against our clients."
06/10/2004
Human Rights Watch (HRW) 2004 International Film
Festival
10-24 June 2004, New York City, Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln
Center
Films addressing women, peace and security issues include:
-“The Kite” (France/Lebanon 2003): …The Kite
tells the story of 16-year-old Lamia, who, on her wedding day must
cross over the barbed wire barrier that separates her Lebanese
village from that of her cousin and fiancé Samy, whose
village has been annexed by Israel. Between the villages, the
border is heavily patrolled. The checkpoint, controlled by both
sides, permits newlyweds and corpses to return to their home
villages. Lamia reaches the family of her fiancé, abandoning
her younger brother, her school, her kite, her mother, her past.
But she refuses to consummate her marriage; instead she gradually
falls in love with a soldier who has been watching her since the
day she crossed the border for the first time.
-“When the Storm Came” (USA 2003): The women of Kunnan
Pushpora trek through the jungle to collect firewood for fuel in
the militarized valley nestled at the foothills of the Himalayas
known as Kashmir. But they are haunted by a night now deeply
entrenched in their collective memory. When the Storm Came tells
their story and gives a human face to the commonly used "weapon" of
war — rape.
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