Two American men can go ahead with a civil lawsuit against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, a U.S. appeals court said on Monday, over allegations they were tortured in Iraq at the hands of the U.S. military.
Donald Vance and Nathan Ertel sued in federal court seeking damages from Rumsfeld and unnamed others over their roles in developing, authorizing and using harsh interrogation techniques in Iraq against them, thus violating their rights. The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, based in Chicago, upheld a decision by a federal judge in Illinois to allow the lawsuit to proceed despite efforts by the former Bush and current Obama administration to get the case dismissed. The two men worked for a private security company in Iraq in 2006 and said they became concerned the firm was engaging in illegal bribery or other corruption activities. They notified U.S. authorities and began cooperating with them.
