Abu Ghraib contractors seek civil immunity

RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) — The same principles that protect U.S. soldiers from being sued by enemy combatants apply to private contractors hired to help conduct a war, attorneys for two companies that provided interrogators at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq told a federal appeals court Tuesday.

Attorneys for Virginia-based CACI International Inc. and New York-based L-3 Communications Corp. urged a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse rulings by two lower courts denying them immunity from lawsuits by alleged torture victims at Abu Ghraib.

A lawyer for Iraqi detainees argued that even in a war context, private companies can be sued for actions not …