Randi Sued By CACI In SLAPP suit
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Randi Rhodes, Air America radio host, is being sued by CACI for defamation to the tune of $10 million dollars. Apparently, the lawsuit is based on Randi's statements during her show about the role CACI employees had in torture in Iraq. Even a cursory examination of the situation proves this is a SLAPP lawsuit.
First, what is CACI? It is a company which has received millions of dollars of American contracts in Iraq. Specifically, CACI along with another company, Titan, are part of a joint enterprise known as "Team Titan" which provides interrogation services to the United States government with respect to detainees held in Guantanamo and Iraq. Read more...
CACI IMPLICATED IN TORTURE/MURDER OF PRISONERS
Its Iraq interrogators have "moderate" supervision and were implicated by General Taguba's report in the Abu Ghraib scandal. Beyond that, CACI is being sued by DOZENS of former detainees for everything from torture to murder to kidnapping.
Here's a sampling of the claims against CACI:
CACI International, Inc., CACI Incorporated - Federal, CACI N.V. ("CACI Corporate Defendants") The CACI Corporate Defendants, acting through its employees, engaged in racketeering activity by participating in a conspiracy that kidnapped persons and repeatedly threatened to murder and harm persons being detained in prisons in Iraq. In addition, Plaintiffs believe that discovery and further investigation will establish that the CACI Corporate Defendants, acting through its employees, conspired to murder and otherwise harm persons being detained in prison in Iraq and transported stolen property across state lines. (Saleh, et. al. v. Tita, et. al, 2004 WL 1881617)
Until his release on March 29, 2004, Mr. Aboud was detained, interrogated, and physically abused by the Defendants and/or others while under the custody and control of the Defendants. Mr. Aboud is able to identify two (2) individuals who were involved in his torture at Abu Ghraib: Adel Nakhla (an interpreter who was an agent or employee of CACI) and a man he knew as Steven (believed to be Steve Stephanowicz, an interrogator who was an agent or employee of Titan), both of whom were acting within the scope of their agency or employment on behalf of the Defendants.
During the course of said detention, interrogation, and physical abuse, the Defendants and/or others tortured Mr. Aboud as follows:
(a) By beating him with fists and sticks;
(b) By urinating on him;
(c) By sleep deprivation;
(d) By making him listen to loud music;
(e) By forcing him to be naked throughout most of his time in custody;
(f) By photographing him while naked;
(g) By causing him to witness the rape of another prisoner;
(h) By threatening to attack him with dogs; and
(i) By exposure to cold. (Ibrahim v. Titan, et. al., 2004 WL 1773191).
CACI's (alleged) involvement in torture caused the government to suspend its contracts, only to extend them a couple months later. For being subject to so many lawsuits (a class action as well on behalf of all Iraq prisoners), CACI has sure put on the innocent victim face:
"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. (see WaPo link above)
As part of that "rejection and denial" CACI has threatened to sue various individuals, including bloggers over at antiwar.com. They have an excellent rebuttal to CACI's frivolous claims.
CACI UNACCOUNTABLE?
Given that Sec. Armitage himself was a CACI man, it's not surprising the government has taken a hands off approach to investigating the company. General Taguba's report specifically concluded that two CACI employees engaged in/condoned the torture at Abu Ghraib...and yet there were no repercussions. Representative Waxman, in debating H. Res. 627, called out the federal government on giving CACI a pass:
That is why H. Res. 627 is so disappointing. We were presented with a resolution that ``urges'' the Secretary of the Army to investigate abuses at Abu Ghraib prison and ``reaffirms the need for Congress to be frequently updated.'' [...]
The resolution neatly concludes--without evidence--that only ``a handful of individuals'' are involved in prisoner abuse. But none of us knows how many individuals were involved or how high up the chain of command they go.
This resolution also fails to mention the two private companies, CACI International and Titan Corporation, which have contract employees at Abu Ghraib prison. According to accused soldiers, civilian contractors conducted interrogations and ``urged military police ..... to take steps to make prisoners more responsive to questioning.'' One of the soldiers has claimed that civilian contractors were involved in an interrogation that left a prisoner dead. Military investigators have said that a CACI instructor was fired for allowing or instructing military police to ``facilitate interrogations by setting [unauthorized] conditions.'' And in his damning report, Major General Antonio Taguba concluded that two CACI employees were among those ``either directly or indirectly responsible for the abuse at Abu Ghraib.''
Yet the resolution simply ignores these facts and the serious implications they raise. (House Remarks, May 10, 2004)
Those tortured wrote to Congress asking to have CACI representatives questioned during the abuse hearings, but again, CACI was given a pass.
DEFAMATION
Onto the claim against Randi. Any first year law student can tell you the ultimate defense to defamation is truth. The fun is in proving the truth of the allegations at trial. See, if CACI were serious about this suit, it would have to engage in discovery and Randi would have access to records to prove the allegations of torture were true.
But CACI isn't serious about this suit. It's a scare tactic, and having listened to Randi, it's not going to work. Because for every slander and libel suit CACI files, there will be dozens of prisoner abuse suits (plus Taguba's report) that provide a reasonable basis for the claim that CACI was a torture contractor.
This entry was posted on October 12, 2005 at 6:04 PM. (0) comments | Trackback (0)
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