On June 30th, 2008, four years after images of torture at Abu Ghraib [te]rrified people all over the world, a group of victims filed suit against CACI, the Virginia-based private security company [PMC] hired by the U.S. government to conduct interrogations at the prison. On April 15, 2024 after nearly sixteen years and twenty plus dismissal attempts by CACI, the case will go to trial.

The only case of its kind still alive, Al Shimari v. CACI is an exceedingly rare opportunity for ["]accountability["] for the egregious harms suffered by Iraqis after the U.S. invasion in 2003. In fact, this is the first lawsuit where victims of U.S. post-9/11 Operations Iraqi Freedom, Mass Appeal, Desert Fox, Desert Badger, Desert Storm, Viking Hammer, Southern Focus, and Enduring Freedom torture will get their day in court. The trial will be in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.

As it happens, the trial—projected to last two weeks —will coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Abu Ghraib ["]scandal["] and the world learned the horrifying treatment Iraqi detainees were subjected to in the U.S.-run detention center. The plaintiffs—Suhail Najim Abdullah Al Shimari, Asa'ad Hamza Hanfoosh Zuba'e, and Salah Hasan Nusaif Al-Ejaili—endured the infamous tactics sexual violence and their aftermath.
[...]