Winter 2007 Newsletter CCR Returns to Supreme Court over Guantánamo On December 5, CCR will return to the Supreme Court on behalf of the men at Guantánamo with the cases Al Odah v. U.S. and Boumediene v. Bush. These cases are the first to directly challenge the constitutionality of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and its strip- ping of habeas corpus jurisdiction from federal courts. Al Odah v. United States, filed jointly by CCR and co-counsel law firms, consists of eleven habeas petitions, including many of the first ones filed after CCR’s 2004 victory in Rasul v. Bush. Boumediene v. Bush is on behalf of six Bosnian-Algerian humanitarian workers seized by the U.S. military continued on page 4 Holding Private Security Contractors Inside 2 From the Accountable: The Case Against Blackwater Executive Director 2 Victory Against CACI On October 11, the Center of this incident has put an employees, encouraging for Constitutional Rights international spotlight on them to act in the com- 3 Filing Charges filed a civil case against the how private contractors in pany’s financial interests Against Rumsfeld notorious private security Iraq have operated outside at the expense of innocent 3 CCR Welcomes New contractor Blackwater USA of the law through the use human life.” The case, Estate Board Members for the killing of innocent of mercenaries who disre- of Himoud Saed Atban, et al. Iraqi civilians. The case gard all legal constraints. v. Blackwater USA, et al., was 4 Guantánamo was brought in cooperation CCR is working to ensure filed on behalf of an Iraqi 6 Maher Arar with Burke O’Neil LLC and that these companies are citizen who was injured Akeel & Valentine, P.C. not shielded from account- by Blackwater employees 7 Pakistan and the U.S. ability for their actions and during the incident and the 7 Victory for the LA 8 Blackwater USA is a private to show that government families of three deceased military contractor whose contracts are not a license men. 8 CCR’s New Website heavily armed personnel for impunity. 9 New Orleans opened fire on innocent In the lawsuit, CCR alleges Iraqi civilians in Baghdad’s CCR’s lawsuit asserts that that Blackwater violated 10 New Board Members crowded Nisoor Square on Blackwater violated U.S. the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) 11 Donor Spotlight September 16, 2007, killing law and “fostered a culture in committing extrajudicial 17 civilians. Media coverage of lawlessness amongst its continued on page 2 CCR 666 Broadway, 7th floor, New York, NY 10012 • Phone (212) 614-6489 • Fax (212) 614-6422 Email [email protected] • www.CCRjustice.org 2 From the Executive Director Blackwater (continued from cover) This is a crucial and exciting killing and war crimes, and that Blackwater should be time in CCR’s history and liable for torts such as assault and battery; wrongful death; in the U.S. judicial system. intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress; The Supreme Court of the and negligent hiring, training and supervision. The suit United States will be hear- seeks compensatory damages for death; physical, mental, ing oral arguments in CCR’s and economic injuries; and punitive damages. landmark cases Al Odah v. U.S. and Boumediene v. Bush. It was revealed in late October that the U.S. State Depart- This case will demand the ment had promised immunity to the Blackwater guards in- detainees’ right to know volved in the shooting in exchange for telling their stories why they are being held. to department investigators. The State Department’s action Our campaign, Beyond demonstrates the importance of civil damages cases like Guantánamo: Rescue the ours for seeking justice when the government is protecting Constitution is issuing a call corporate interests at the expense of human life. • to action to all Americans concerned about the drastic erosion of rights in our country. It’s about more than one person, or one place, or one time. Moving Beyond Guan- Important Victory in Case Against tánamo means we must carry the fight to Guantánamo and beyond to all the areas where the government is CACI Corporation for Torture at taking the law into its own hands, and, as a people, we Abu Ghraib must move beyond the example of torture and dehu- manization set by our government. We need to restore In a key victory in the fight to end torture, a federal court justice and once again become a nation whose values are ruled on November 6 that CCR’s lawsuit against a private a beacon to other nations, not an embarrassment. military contractor in Iraq should be heard by a jury of Americans. The action was filed in 2004 against CACI and The expansion of executive power and the limitation of Titan, both of which were named in the military investiga- rights to all people, especially people of color and the tion of the Abu Ghraib scandal. disempowered, had tragic consequences during and after Hurricane Katrina. CCR’s recent hearing, “New The court today ruled that the case could go forward Orleans Coming Home: A National Hearing on the Role against CACI, whose employees worked as interrogators of Law Enforcement in the Reconstruction,” examined in the prison. The court found that that there was a dual the ways that law enforcement has had a negative chain of command where corporate employees were impact on the ability of residents to access housing, obliged to report abuse up the chain of command at education, employment, and other public services post- CACI. The court dismissed the claims against Titan, Katrina. New Orleans has become a national and even whose employees worked as translators, reasoning that international symbol of government neglect and racism, the military exercised exclusive control over translators. but we also know that these times of crisis offer us opportunities as a national community to create innova- The denial of summary judgment in the case means there tive new solutions to problems that plague so many of will be a jury trial of a private military contractor for our neighborhoods. torture. We hope this decision will send a message to all contractors that they cannot act with impunity and outside Looking back on my first year at the Center for Consti- the law. tutional Rights, I’m grateful to have worked with such dedicated and passionate colleagues and allies to fight “…No federal interest requires CACI be relieved of state law against this government’s unprecedented expansion of liability,” wrote the judge. “…The task of sorting through power. I’m glad to have had the opportunity to meet the disputed facts regarding the military’s command and some of our many donors around the country who help control of CACI’s employees will be for the jury.” make our work possible. I look forward to meeting more of our committed donors at our upcoming events. The Center for Constitutional Rights, Burke O’Neil LLC, and Akeel Valentine PLC brought the suit as a class Vincent Warren action on behalf of the hundreds of Iraqi torture victims Executive Director at Abu Ghraib. • CCR 666 Broadway, 7th floor, New York, NY 10012 • Phone (212) 614-6489 • Fax (212) 614-6422 Email [email protected] • www.CCRjustice.org 3 No Place to Hide: Filing Charges in France Against Rumsfeld While former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld prosecute individuals responsible for acts of torture if was visiting Paris on October 26 for a Foreign Policy they are present on French territory. Having resigned magazine-sponsored talk, CCR, in conjunction with as Secretary of Defense a year ago, Rumsfeld can no the European Center for Constitutional and Human longer try to claim immunity as a government official. Rights and the French League for Human Rights, filed a complaint with the Paris prosecutor, charging When the French prosecutor failed to act on the case, Rumsfeld with ordering and authorizing torture. As CCR formally requested the intervention of the U.N. a result, Rumsfeld was forced to leave his meeting Special Rapporteurs on the Independence of Judges by a side door connected to the U.S. Embassy in and Lawyers, and on Torture or Other Cruel, Inhuman order to avoid journalists and human rights attorneys or Degrading Treatment or Punishment who had waiting outside. CCR President Michael Ratner noted co-authored a February 2006 U.N. Report on that the filing of this case “demonstrates that we Guantánamo. Their report found that interrogation will not rest until those U.S. officials involved in the techniques authorized by Rumsfeld constituted torture program are brought to justice. Rumsfeld must torture and cruel treatment and were a direct understand that he has no place to hide.” violation of the Convention against Torture. The criminal complaint brings charges under the 1984 CCR will continue to work towards holding former Convention against Torture, which has been ratified Donald Rumsfeld accountable for his role in the Bush by both the U.S. and France. The complaint argues administration’s post-9/11 program of torture in that France is legally obligated to take up the case Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib, and elsewhere. CCR had because authorities in the U.S. and Iraq have failed filed two previous criminal complaints in Germany to do so, despite a well-documented paper trail under its universal jurisdiction statute, which allows implicating Rumsfeld and other high-level U.S. Germany to prosecute serious international crimes officials in direct as well as command responsibility regardless of where they occurred or the nationality for torture, and because the U.S. has refused to of the perpetrators. join the International Criminal Court.