Retrial of military contractor accused of complicity at Abu Ghraib soon to reach jury

Associated Press

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A jury could begin deliberations as soon as Thursday on whether a Virginia-based military contractor bears responsibility for abuse of detainees 20 years ago at Iraq’s infamous Abu Ghraib prison. The civil trial under way in federal court in Alexandria is the second this year involving allegations against Reston-based CACI, which supplied civilian interrogators to Abu Ghraib in 2003 and 2004 to supplement U.S. military efforts after the invasion of Iraq. The first trial earlier this year ended in a mistrial with a hung jury that could not agree on whether CACI was liable. The prison abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib shocked the world’s conscience two decades ago after photos of naked, abused inmates forced into humiliating poses became public.