CACI International
The Arlington, Virginia based CACI International has reincarnated itself under various names since it was founded in 1962 by Harry Markowitz, the 1990 Nobel laureate for Economics.[1] Presently, it employs 9500 individuals working in its more than 100 offices in North America and Europe. According to its website, it provides 'IT and network solutions' in an era of 'defense, intelligence and e-government'.[2] Between August and December 2003, CACI was awarded 11 contracts, worth about $66 million for work in Iraq alone.[3] In 2004 CACI was the subject of five different government investigations.[1]
CACI was one of the two companies named in the report by Major General Antonio M. Taguba on the Abu Ghraib Scandal. Steven Staphanovic, one of its employees, was said to have 'allowed and/or instructed MPs (military police), who were not trained in interrogation techniques, to facilitate interrogations by 'setting conditions' ... he clearly knew his instructions equated to physical abuse.'[2]
CACI has strong Israeli ties and according to Robert Fisk '[o]ne of Staphanovic's co-workers, Joe Ryan - who was not named in the Taguba report - now says he underwent an 'Israeli interrogation course' before going to Iraq.' J.P. London, the CEO of the company, visited Israel on a trip sponsored by an Israeli lobby group along with U.S. congressmen and other defense contractors. In early 2004 he also attended an 'anti-terror" training camp in Israel where he 'was presented with an award by Shaul Mofaz, the right-wing Israeli defense minister'. [3]
While the Interior Department's inspector general had blocked the Army placing new orders with CACI, this did not prevent the Army from awarding a new four-month contract for 'interrogation services' worth $15.3 million in August 2004 and a $16 million renewal of its earlier contract in early 2005.[4]
United States Congressman Jim McDermott has entered a Sunday Herald article onto his web space on the House of Congress website[5]. The article descibes details of the horrific treatment inflicted on prisoners at Abu Ghraib: which includes sexual abuse, rape, severe beatings (sometimes to death), throwing prisoners from a bridge (& a speeding truck), being savaged by dogs and having electrodes attached to their fingers and genitals. Most of these acts were also either photographed or filmed by the soldiers/staff at Abu Ghraib. This is not reading for the faint hearted. The article also reports that even though CACI have 'received no indication that any CACI employee was involved' in the incidents, their 'investigator's contract was terminated because he allowed and/or instructed military police officers who were not trained in interrogation techniques to facilitate interrogations which were neither authorised nor in accordance with regulations'. CACI is a 'civilian contract' organization, and as the report states, no civilians are facing charges as military law does not apply to them. According to Colonel Jill Morgenthaler from CentCom, 'one civilian contractor was accused along with six soldiers of mistreating prisoners. However, it was left to the contractor to "deal with him"'. Who the civilian contractor is or which firm they worked for is not divulged.
One of the U.S. soldiers who did face court martial, Staff Sergeant Chip Frederick, blamed the army for the torture at Abu Ghraib. "We had no support, no training whatsoever," he said, claiming he had never been shown the Geneva Convention. "I kept asking my chain of command for certain things like rules and regulations and it just wasn't happening." Not that this is exactly a great excuse. One doesn't have to know the contents of the Geneva Convention to know that the horrific treatment that some of the prisoners went through was inhumane. Frederick also accused the intelligence services 'for encouraging the brutality'. Some of the intelligence agencies at Abu Ghraib were the FBI & CIA. The article continues by reporting the content of emails and letters Frederick had sent home where he wrote:
- "Military intelligence has encouraged and told us 'Great job'."He added: "They usually don't allow others to watch them interrogate. But since they like the way I run the prison, they have made an exception ..... We help getting [the PoWs] to talk with the way we handle them ..... We've had a very high rate with our style of getting them to break. They usually end up breaking within hours."
Two 'civilian contract' organizations with links to the Bush administration are reported to have taken part in interrogations at Abu Ghraib. CACI and California-based Titan Corporation. Richard Armitage, who sat on CACI's Board was also the current deputy U.S. secretary of state and Titan is reported to have given nearly $40,000 to George W. Bush's Republican Party between 2003 to 2004.
People
- Richard Armitage, the current deputy U.S. secretary of state in 2004, also sat on CACI's board.
