In the worst possible way
That private contractors are interrogators in U.S. prison camps in Iraq should be stunning enough. This is incredibly sensitive work and takes our experiment with the boundaries of military outsourcing to levels never anticipated. But even more outrageous is the fact that gaps in the law may have given them a free pass so that it could be impossible to prosecute them for alleged criminal behavior.
Some soldiers make horrible decisions, but they are accountable. Private employees doing military work are not. Contracting for combat or combat related positions must stop.
In turn, because the acts were committed abroad, and also reportedly involve some contractors who are not U.S. citizens, the application of U.S. domestic law in an extraterritorial setting is unclear and has never been tested. This appears to leave an incredible vacuum. Indeed, as Phillip Carter, a former Army officer now at UCLA Law School, says, “Legally speaking, (military contractors in Iraq) actually fall into the same gray area as the unlawful combatants detained at Guant?namo Bay.”
This is the worst case scenario and it should have been predicted.
ArchPundit