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Abu Ghraib contractors seek civil immunity
The same principles that protect U.S. soldiers from being sued by enemy combatants apply to private contractors hired to help conduct a war, attorneys for two companies that provided interrogators at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq told a federal appeals court Tuesday. Attorneys for…CACI International Inc. and…L-3 Communications Corp. urged a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse rulings by two lower courts denying them immunity from lawsuits by alleged torture victims at Abu Ghraib. A lawyer for Iraqi detainees argued that even in a war context, private companies can be sued for actions not authorized by their contracts with the government — in this case, the abuse of prisoners.