Iraq torture court case against Rumsfeld

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

US judge gives go-ahead for case against Rumsfeld

Sunday 07 March 2010

A US judge has approved a civil lawsuit accusing former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld of responsibility for the alleged torture by US forces of two citizens who worked for an Iraqi contracting firm.

US District Judge Wayne Andersen’s ruling on Friday did not say that former contractors Donald Vance and Nathan Ertel had proven their claims, including that they were tortured under procedures personally approved by Mr Rumsfeld after reporting alleged illegal activities by their company.

But it did say that they had alleged enough specific mistreatment to warrant hearing evidence of exactly what happened.

While in custody, Mr Vance and Mr Ertel were subjected to sleep deprivation, long hours of interrogation, blasting music, threats, hunger and a practice known as “walling” in which subjects are blindfolded and walked into walls, according to the suit.

Mr Andersen said that his decision “represented a recognition that federal officials may not strip citizens of well-settled constitutional protections against mistreatment simply because they are located in a tumultuous foreign setting.”

Mr Vance and Mr Ertel were seeking unspecified damages. The next hearing is set for March 25.

The long-awaited public inquiry into the alleged torture and murder of up to 20 Iraqis by British troops in Iraq gets under way on Tuesday: here.

Britain: Cases involving allegations of torture should be opened to the public, the Court of Appeal has heard: here.

Intelligence agencies in the US deliberately concealed torture of terror suspects, the former head of MI5 has claimed: here.