Families of contractors killed in Iraq sue feds

Families of contractors killed in Iraq sue feds

The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Mar 26, 2010 17:37:43 EDT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The families of three private security contractors who were kidnapped, held for ransom and beheaded in Iraq are suing the State Department over their deaths.

Joshua Munns, John Cote and John Young were working for Crescent Security Group in November 2006 when they and two other co-workers were ambushed and abducted while guarding a military convoy near the southern Iraq city of Safwan.

The complaint, which filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, seeks punitive damages and challenges the constitutionality of the U.S. government’s practice of using private military contractors in war but not supporting them when they are injured, killed or kidnapped.

“The primary goal is to peel back the lid on this black box .... to ask the hard question about what this ‘War on Terror’ is about,” Bill Palmer, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told The Associated Press.
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Families of contractors killed in Iraq sue feds