New Motions in Rumsfeld Suit Unveil Web of Intrigue

Nathan Ertel, who was imprisoned for one month at the infamous Camp Cropper in Baghdad along fellow contractor Donald Vance has joined with Vance as co - plaintiff in the lawsuit suit that Vance filed late last year. Although Rumsfeld has not yet made a personal appearance, he has been represented by government lawyers who have responded to service in his name. An amended complaint was filed on Monday in the Northern District of Illinois. It now includes the USA and Unidentified Agents, and in its 69 pages it unravels an intrigue involving FBI agents, government whistleblowers, and the high-living contractors who evaded them. The complaint alleges that Vance and Ertel were detained because it was suspected that they knew too much - but because of the mechanism, they don't know who decided to detain them. The new complaint also alleged "that Unidentified Agents reached an agreement or agreements, to unlawfully cover-up from Plaintiffs the identities of those who are liable to them for violation of their rights as well as the evidence needed to prove those violations."

At a hearings on January 26, the government promised to collect the names of potential defendants within 60 days, but when pressed to demonstrate their progress, the government stated it was not a party to the suit and would not provide the names as they were being uncovered. The Loevy team addressed this problem by adding the USA and "unidentified agents" to the complaint, because they have concerns about the statute of limitations, which are exacerbated by Rumsfeld's delay in appearing.

On Monday they accompanied the amended complaint with a motion for discovery, which is not the norm in Judge Shadur's court.

Plaintiffs seek from the United States the return of their unlawfully-seized property pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act, 5 U.S.C. §702. In particular, Plaintiffs have requested their laptop computers, cell phones, digital and video cameras, and all of the data stored on the same. The United States has already appeared in this action to assert its interest, and it is being served with a summons and copy of the Amended Complaint.

More importantly, they seek the identities of all who who involved in their illegal detention at Camp Cropper: some of the details of that experience were originally published last November at Chicago IMC. And finally, they want to serve a subpoena on SBC Global and Orascom, Vance's telecom provider, for information that will establish the whistleblower status of the plaintiffs. A ruling on their request for "expedited discovery" in case number 06-cv-06964 before the US District Court in the Northern District of Illinois is expected shortly.

David Roknich
Editor,

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