Jamie Leigh Jones Case Going to Court

Great news: Jamie Leigh Jones is finally getting her day in court.

HOUSTON – Jury selection began Monday afternoon in the case of a Houston woman who says she was raped by co-workers in Iraq when she worked for KBR, a former subsidiary of Halliburton.

The suit was filed by Jamie Leigh Jones against Halliburton and its ex-subsidiary, KBR Inc. Jones says she was raped while working for KBR at Camp Hope, Baghdad, in 2005. KBR and Halliburton, both based in Houston, split in 2007.

Jones has fought for the past six years to get her day in court. She finally had that chance Monday, arriving at the courthouse early with her attorneys at her side.

Jones can only file a civil suit. The Bush administration and Congress placed contractors under State Department supervision. Military contractors are not under the Defense Department. Therefore the the military article code does not apply. That is why Blackwater has been able to break the law in Iraq. Attorney Scott Horton explained the legal failure of the policy.

(1) The Justice Department is effectively not present on the scene, does not have personnel deployed charged with conducting investigations, collecting evidence and making preliminary decisions as to whether incidents are suitable for prosecution. This would require a team of FBI agents with appropriate training, including access to forensic labs and personnel.

(2) The case when first alleged seems to have been treated as an issue related to administration of a contract, rather than a criminal justice matter, triggering only a State Department investigation. But the State Department does not have authority to conduct criminal inquiries or to bring charges.

(3) The Department of Defense was called upon to provide medical expertise, which was a reasonable step. But no guidelines appear to have been available as to how this was done. The alleged surrender of the rape kit by military medical personnel to Kellogg Brown & Root was grossly improper, producing a serious lapse in the chain of custody—and in this case, loss of evidence which cannot be reproduced. It reflects an attitude which I hear constantly when interviewing State Department and Defense Department personnel—namely, that the problem is the contractor’s. Of course, the contractor has an interest in performing its contract and maintaining a good relationship with the contracting agency. The contractor does not have any interest per se in law enforcement. It might well decide to terminate employees it believes are involved in a crime, but beyond that the contractor will, very appropriately, believe that the responsibility for law enforcement lies with law enforcement agencies.

Sadly, the Obama administration has done nothing to change the military contracting rules.

Bush Press Conference on Attoney Purge

Talking Points Memo has a video of the Bush press conference on the U.S. Attorneys purge. It's a horrible performance even by Bush standards. It really is something when Bush cheerleader Kathryn Jean Lopez feels the need to say so.

Instead, the president has now gone before the press and while delivering his remarks lost his place at least once, and sounded like an exhausted lame duck lamely reading his unconvincing statement..

Of course K-Lo quickly was back in pom pom-waving mode. Scott Horton of the must read email newsletter No Comment brilliantly summed up Bush's performance.

I just watched Bush deliver his response to Congress' request. The cable news commentator instantly described Bush as "firm and vigorous," and I couldn't suppress a laugh. In fact he was Nixonian from the shaky, teetering final days.

Bush is doing himself no favors with his official stance. The Fred Fielding letter to Congress puts the White House on a collision course with disaster.

Such interviews would be private and conducted without the need for an oath, transcript, subsequent testimony, or the subsequent issuance of subpoenas.

That way Karl Rove can lie without fear of legal repercussions. Fat chance of that happening. John Conyers probably read that letter and wondered who are these people kidding.

What will probably happen is White House and Justice Department officials will be subpoenaed and lie under oath. Which sets up the possibility of criminal prosecution. These people learned nothing from the Lewis "Scooter" Libby trial. Bush would do himself and his party a favor by purging officials involved with the U.S. Attorneys scandal. Tony Snow told Brian York that the White House has the upper hand.

Finally, I asked whether the White House believes this is a battle the president can win. "Yes," Snow said. "In terms of presidential prerogative, in terms of preserving confidential communications with your staff — yes."

Snow's interview with York gets even more bizarre.

I pointed to the recent Libby trial, in which there was great dispute over what had been said in unrecorded, untranscribed interviews with the FBI. You need a transcript to know an interviewee's precise words, I said. Snow argued that that wasn't necessary because there will be members of Congress from both parties, staff, and others at the interviews. "There will be a whole lot of people there [at the interviews] to be witnesses to what's going on," he said.

Even a talented spinmeister like Snow can't make that not sound laugh out hysterical. Snow wants the public to believe that people remembering conversations is as accurate as recordings and transcripts. That's just plain bullshit.

Bush has a dismal approval rating and a Democratic Congress. Republicans are telling him to fire Gonzales. Bush will lose.