U.S. Navy Vet Sues Donald Rumsfeld for Torture in Iraq

[EFerrari]

(Vance says he believes other Americans were held at Camp Cropper and that these procedures may still be in place.)

On Monday, a federal appeals court refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by two U.S. citizens against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and unnamed others for developing, authorizing and using harsh interrogation techniques against detainees in Iraq. Donald Vance and Nathan Ertel were working for a private U.S. government contractor, Shield Group Security, in 2006 when they witnessed the sale of U.S. government weapons to Iraqi rebel groups for money and alcohol. After they became FBI informants and collaborated with an investigation into their employer, the company revoked their credentials for entering Iraq’s so-called Green Zone, effectively barring them from the safest part of the country. Shortly afterward, they were arrested and detained by U.S. troops, moved to the U.S.-run prison at Camp Cropper, and subjected to extreme sleep deprivation, interrogated for hours at a time, kept in a very cold cell, and denied food and water for long periods. They were eventually released and never charged with a crime. For more on his story, we speak with Donald Vance, a U.S. Navy veteran, and with Andrea Prasow, the senior counsel in the Terrorism and Counterterrorism Program at Human Rights Watch.

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/8/11/us_navy_vet_sues_donald_rumsfeld

[DCKit]

1. Being reported right now on RT. Yay!!!! nt

[EFerrari]

2. Vance's recounting is amazing.

He says the guards at Camp Cropper were used to dealing with people who only had limited English, so while he was there, he overheard all kinds of things because they spoke very openly about their activities.