Gov't Suspends Iraq Prison Contracts
By MATT KELLEY Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Army civilian interrogators under scrutiny in
the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal are working under a contract designed
originally for information technology services and overseen by the
Interior Department.
Now Interior's internal watchdog is investigating the arrangement.
The department, which normally oversees
national parks and American Indian matters, has blocked the Army from
ordering new services under the contract.
The confusing arrangement adds another layer to the uncertainty over
who was in control of Iraqi prisoners and what rules governed treatment of
the detainees. Army contract officials are supposed to keep contract
workers in line and recommend punishment, Interior spokesman Frank Quimby
said Tuesday.
The Army told Interior last week, however, that it had had no problem
with the way CACI International Inc. was handling the work, even though an
internal Army report has accused at least one CACI interrogator of
participating in abuses.
Some critics say the bewildering bureaucracy surrounding military
contracts invites abuse.
"The government can no longer assure us it has the official ability to
oversee what contractors are doing, especially on the battlefield," said
Dan Guttman, a lawyer and contracting expert at Johns Hopkins
University.
The Army hired interrogators from CACI starting last August through a
"blanket purchase agreement" overseen by the Interior Department. The
agreement was to provide information technology services, Quimby said.
Interior's inspector general is investigating whether it was proper to
hire interrogators under an information technology contract, Quimby told
reporters in a conference call Tuesday. He said the Interior Department
has blocked the Army from ordering new services under the contract,
although CACI workers already in Iraq can continue serving at least until
the contract runs out in August.
The Interior official responsible for the contract decided to approve
no more requests for interrogators under the contract "in the interest of
prudence," Quimby said.
CACI spokeswoman Jody Brown said in a statement the company expected to
be allowed to finish its work on the contract orders it currently has.
Brown said the military has not notified CACI of any problems with the
contract.
Uncertainty over who was responsible for oversight of the interrogation
contracts added to the confusion surrounding the prison abuse case. In a
report on the abuse, Army Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba quoted military prison
guards as saying that military intelligence officers and civilian
contractors encouraged abuses, including stripping prisoners naked and
handcuffing them in painful positions.
The Army turned over the management of some of its military
intelligence contracts to the Interior Department in 2001. Although
Interior is ultimately responsible for managing the contract, Army
officials were responsible for day-to-day oversight, including
investigation of violations by contract workers, Quimby said.
Under a blanket purchase agreement, a company agrees to provide a set
menu of goods or services to federal agencies under set guidelines.
Agencies may then choose from a list of companies providing services or
goods they need and buy them with a "delivery order."
Quimby said Army officials in Baghdad asked in August to hire
interrogators from CACI, which last year bought Premier Technology Group,
holder of the blanket agreement and employer of contract
interrogators.
Quimby said the Interior official who approved the deal believed it was
proper because interrogators use information technology such as computer
databases to compile and send information to military commanders.
The Army paid CACI more than $3.3 million through May 17 on two
purchase orders involving interrogators at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere in
Iraq, Quimby said. Those two purchase orders authorize spending of up to
$41.7 million, Quimby said.
The Justice Department announced last week it has launched a criminal
investigation of a private contractor in Iraq at the Pentagon's request.
Quimby said he could not say if the target of that investigation worked
for CACI.
Interpreters supplied by Titan Corp. also worked at Abu Ghraib under a
separate contract with the Army Intelligence and Security Command.
Taguba's report named one interpreter as a suspect and several others as
witnesses to abuse.
The CACI interrogator named in the Taguba report, Steven Stefanowicz,
has hired a lawyer from Philadelphia and left Iraq. The lawyer, Henry
Hockeimer Jr., said Stefanowicz did nothing wrong and has not been
notified he is under any investigation.
Titan has fired Adel L. Nakhla, an interpreter from Gaithersburg, Md.,
whom Taguba named as a suspect. Nakhla's lawyer, Francis Q. Hoang of
Washington, did not return repeated telephone and e-mail messages seeking
comment. 2004-05-26 14:26:20 GMT
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