Al Qaeda on trial in Houston Federal Court

Houston Chronicle:

The U.S. Army is out, but al-Qaida and other insurgent forces may still be in three lawsuits alleging that KBR knowingly sent civilian contractors into an active Iraq battle zone where some were killed and others injured, a judge ruled today.

U.S. District Judge Gray Miller ruled on KBR’s request that it be allowed to bring both the U.S. Army and insurgents into the lawsuit as responsible parties for the jury to consider in a trial scheduled for 2010.

“The court finds that submitting the Army’s actions in Iraq to a judicial proceeding—even with no liability attached—is beyond the authority and competence of the court,” Miller wrote.

Miller originally threw out all three suits, saying that courts lack the authority to second-guess wartime military decisions. But the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals tossed the cases back, ruling it may be possible to try the cases without making a “constitutionally impermissible review of wartime decision-making.”

Miller also ruled Thursday that al-Qaida, the Badr Brigade, cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army may be blamed by KBR as responsible parties, though he cautioned KBR faces further legal hurdles before it can claim the insurgents are responsible for what happened.

The cases center on an April 2004 insurgent attack on a KBR convoy of military supply trucks, which killed six civilian truck drivers and wounded 14. The Army contracts with KBR to provide supplies and other logistical support.

Two workers injured and the family of one killed in the attack allege that KBR told the workers when they were recruited that they’d be kept out of combat areas, but sent the convoy on a route known to be dangerous.

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I don't think anyone could credibly believe they would not be a combat zone in Iraq during the given period. Supply trucks were an obvious target of an enemy using a logistic strategy. The drivers could not be naive enough to think they were getting the high pay they received and not be in any danger. Even the Green Zone came under attack during this period.

How are the parties going to get service on al Qaeda? Perhaps they can do it by publication, or they may just hand the court papers to the guy just captured in Iraq. The Iraqi government claims he is the head of al Qaeda in Iraq.