Judiciary Hearing on Contractor Crimes Committed Overseas
Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Scott gives opening remarks:
Rep. Scott: "We currently have a situation in which contractors act with impunity and no accountability because they operate outside the physical jurisdiction of the United States, and therefore outside of the jurisdiction of the US criminal code." |
Attorney Alan Grayson, who represents various contractor whistleblowers, gives opening testimony:
Alan Grayson: "Needless to say there have been far more than four instances of war profiteering in Iraq. Billions of dollars are missing, and many billions more wasted. How it came to be that only four such cases are unsealed and in litigation, and how it is that even in those four cases the Bush Administration is not participating, are the subject of my testimony today. As I'll explain, in our fifth year in the war in Iraq, the Bush Administration has not litigated a single case against any war profiteer under the False Claims Act." |
Erika Razook, Legal Advisor to the Business and Human Rights Program at Amnesty International, gives testimony on the lack of prosecutions for human rights violations:
Erika Razook: "Amnesty International has been investigating and reporting on human rights abuses for over 40 years, and one of the most constant themes in our work has been, we see the most horrible and worst abuses when there's a culture of impugnity for them. And that is what we have seen in this area of private military and security contractors working on behalf of the United States government in countries around the world, and in particular in Iraq and Afghanistan." |