Iraq 20 Nov 2007 - 2nd report

The following NY Times story could be filed under "Rant against privatization of war" if I was posting in bulletin board mode.

43 in Contractor’s Convoy Held After Baghdad Shooting

By CARA BUCKLEY
The New York Times

BAGHDAD, Nov. 19, 2007 — The Iraqi military detained 43 people in a convoy for a contractor with the United States military on Monday after the shooting of an 18-year-old woman in central Baghdad, the military said.

Witnesses and an Iraqi Army sergeant said a guard on the convoy wounded the teenager in the leg as she crossed the street in the bustling, mixed neighborhood of Karada.

While some early accounts said American security guards had been arrested, Maj. Brad Leighton, a spokesman for the military, said none of those arrested were Americans. The military said the episode involved Almco, a Dubai-based company under contract to the military.

Immediately after the shooting on Monday, a throng of angry civilians lashed out at the guard and beat him along with his passengers, believing they were insurgents, witnesses said.

The company has a construction contract with the Department of Defense’s Joint Contracting Command Iraq and another contract to provide food, water and other basic services with the Multi-National Security Transition Command, which assists the Iraqi government with the development, organization and training of its armed forces.

The company does not handle any personal security for the American forces, but it is responsible for providing security for its own convoys, personnel and supplies while it is doing work related to its Department of Defense contracts.

“We have not confirmed which contract they were working on at the time of the incident,” said Major Leighton, who added that it was also unclear whether, at the time of the shooting, the company was traveling on a task related to carrying out one of those contracts.

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The following op-ed piece in the NY Times by Nicholas Katzenbach & Frederick Schwarz could be filed under "The War on Terror" or "Is it fascism yet?" threads if I were posting in a bulletin board format.

Release Justice’s Secrets

The New York Times
November 20, 2007
Op-Ed Contributor

By NICHOLAS deB. KATZENBACH and FREDERICK A. O. SCHWARZ Jr.

MICHAEL MUKASEY has been confirmed as attorney general. But the profound moral, legal and constitutional issues raised at his Senate Judiciary Committee hearings are unresolved. Mr. Mukasey should open the door to their resolution by releasing the Justice Department’s long-secret legal opinions that have warped our fight against terrorism.

When the Justice Department, usually acting through its Office of Legal Counsel, issues legal opinions binding on the executive branch, there is never justification for keeping them secret. Opinions that narrowly define what constitutes torture; or open the door to sending prisoners for questioning to Egypt and Syria, which regularly use torture; or rule the president has some “inherent power” to ignore laws are all of concern to Congress and the public whether one agrees or disagrees with the legal analysis.

Yet all these opinions have been kept secret, along with many other, related post-9/11 opinions that purport to decide what America’s law is.

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