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Some Abu Ghraib Torture Victims Finally Get Their Day in Court, but All Deserve Justice
Al Shimari et al. v. CACI, which will be heard today, was only able to advance because it targeted a military contractor; U.S. courts have repeatedly dismissed similar cases against the federal government.
Apr 15, 2024
Twenty years have passed since the media broke the story that U.S. forces and the CIA were torturing “war on terror” detainees at Abu Ghraib and other U.S.-run prisons in Iraq. But for the men who were tortured, it feels like only yesterday. The physical and mental scars they carry serve as daily reminders of the abuse they suffered.
Still, several of these men told me they hold out hope that the U.S. government will apologize and give them the redress they deserve.
The U.S. government hasn’t created any official compensation program or other avenues for redress for those who allege they were tortured or abused. Nor are there any pathways available to have their cases heard.
On April 15, a federal court in Virginia will hear the case of Al Shimari et al. v. CACI, a lawsuit brought by the U.S.-based Center for Constitutional Rights on behalf of three Iraqi torture victims. The suit asserts that CACI, a private security company which the U.S. government hired in 2003 to interrogate prisoners in Iraq, directed and participated in torture and other abuse at Abu Ghraib. The men are seeking compensatory and punitive damages.
CACI has tried to have the case dismissed 20 times since it was first filed in 2008.
Al Shimari et al. v. CACI was only able to advance because it targeted a military contractor. U.S. courts have repeatedly dismissed similar cases against the federal government because of a 1946 law that preserves U.S. forces’ immunity for claims that arise during war.
What’s more, the U.S. government hasn’t created any official compensation program or other avenues for redress for those who allege they were tortured or abused. Nor are there any pathways available to have their cases heard.
This lawsuit is a critical step towards justice for these three men who will finally have their day in court. But they are the lucky few. For the hundreds of other survivors still suffering from past abuses, their chances of justice remain slim. The U.S. government should do the right thing: take responsibility for their abuses, offer an apology, and open an avenue to redress that has been denied them for too many years.
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Federal Workers Plan Daylong Fast in Solidarity With Gaza
Feds United for Peace said their second action this month "aims to shed light on the humanitarian crisis faced by the people of Gaza and promote dialogue around lasting solutions."
Jan 29, 2024
A group of workers at over two dozen U.S. government agencies are planning a "Day of Fasting" on Thursday in what they called "a powerful display of solidarity with the people of Gaza," who are enduring a genocidal Israeli assault supported by the Biden administration.
Feds United for Peace—who earlier this month held a "Day of Mourning" to mark 100 days of the war—said Monday that the planned daylong hunger strike is meant "to raise awareness and support those affected" by the relentless Israeli onslaught and "aims to shed light on the humanitarian crisis faced by the people of Gaza and promote dialogue around lasting solutions."
One representative of the group, whose members are anonymous, toldThe Guardian that the fast is a response to Israel's use of "starvation as a weapon of war by intentionally withholding food from entering Gaza."
The group said:
According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, 500,000 people in Gaza face catastrophic hunger. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reports that Gazans make up 80% of ALL people facing famine or catastrophic hunger worldwide. Israel's siege has brought Gaza's families to the brink of starvation.
"Fasting one day will not save them," Feds United for Peace acknowledged. "But pledging to fast, talking about it with colleagues, wearing a keffiyeh or other Palestinian symbols in public solidarity, wearing black as a symbol of outrage and mourning—these are things that can continue to raise awareness."
"Participating in the Day of Fasting can entail a range of efforts," the group explained. "For example, some may choose to fast from dawn until dusk. If one cannot fast from food, Feds United for Peace encourages supporters to observe the day by helping someone in need, volunteering, donating to UNRWA or other relief agencies, or engaging in some other act of giving and remembrance."
Feds United for Peace faced bipartisan backlash in response to the Day of Mourning, with far-right U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) asserting that participants "deserve to be fired" and vowing to pursue "appropriate disciplinary proceedings against any person who walks out on their job."
The Feds United for Peace actions follow a walkout and vigil held last month outside the White House by dozens of Biden administration staffers who concealed their faces because they feared employer retaliation. Earlier in December, more than 40 White House interns sent a letter condemning Israel's "brutal and genocidal response" to the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on Israel and urging President Joe Biden to support a permanent cease-fire. More than 100 congressional staffers also walked off the job in November and held a vigil to mourn the 10,000 Gazans who had been killed by Israeli forces up to that point. The death toll in Gaza now stands at over 26,600, with more than 65,300 others wounded. Most of the victims are women and children.
U.S. State Department personnel have utilized the agency's official dissent channel to condemn U.S. support for Israel's war. More than 100 foreign service officials also signed a scathing internal memo blasting Biden's "unwillingness to de-escalate" Israel's assault on Gaza and his failure to stop Israeli "war crimes and/or crimes against humanity" in the embattled Palestinian enclave.
At least two Biden administration officials have resigned in protest since October—Tariq Habash, a former policy adviser in the Education Department's Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development, and Josh Paul, ex-director of congressional and public affairs for the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs.
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