Another really fun story: Supreme Court rejects tortured whistleblowers’ suit against Rumsfeld

[jshep]

http://rt.com/usa/supreme-rumsfeld-vance-court-493/

 

The high court rejected an appeal early Monday filed by Donald Vance and Nathan Ertel, two US citizens who say Mr. Rumsfeld should be held responsible for the treatment they endured while detained for several weeks in 2006. Both men were placed in a military prison in Baghdad for around three months that summer. They had filed a complaint with the Federal Bureau of Investigation about the Iraqi-owned security contractor they worked for, then were scooped up by US forces and put behind bars days later.

 

In a 2011 interview with Democracy Now!, Vance explained that only a few months into working for the contractor, Shield Group Security, he “started to notice some pretty frightening and alarming illegal activity.”

 

“It ranged from bribery, theft, weapons dealing,” he explained. “It was a gamut of illegal activities.”

 

Vance told the FBI about the allegations in 2005 and became an unpaid informant for them shortly thereafter. Then in April 2006, his cover was blown and he and Ertel were brought to the US embassy in Baghdad — only to be turned over to the US military and checked in to a temporary detention facility.

 

While detained in Baghdad, Vance and Ertel say they were tortured and their rights of habeas corpus were violated. Specifically, the men say they were subjected to sleep deprivation techniques and other inhumane treatment, and Vance wasn’t allowed to make contact with anyone in America until two weeks after his arrest. Vance was kept in custody for more than two months after authorities learned from the FBI that he was an informant.

 

[arch stanton]

I've worked in the middle east for many years. Corruption, skimming, bribery, are not only accepted but expected business practices.

 

That said, when it comes to Americans who get these positions and treat other Americans like this, if I had my way I'd give these guys a BushMaster and an address book.

[Taylor]

We've heard his side of the story.

 

I wonder what the truth is.