US Immunizes Military Contractors

The United States has given legal immunity from lawsuits to several military contractors abroad in an attempt to indemnify them against their liabilities if they are sued.

According to documents released by the US War Department on Thursday, more than 120 military contracts include indemnification clauses, which require the Pentagon to pick up the tab if contractors are prosecuted.

Airline companies, including Continental and United, and military contractors such as Raytheon Missile Systems, General Dynamics, L3, Lockheed Martin, BAE, and Boeing, are on the list of the contractors subject to the immunity.

The information was released in response to a Congress inquiry, investigating the indemnification of Kellogg Brown Root (KBR) by the Pentagon in respect of two lawsuits related to Iraq war, the Huffington Post reported.

The lawsuits claim that the Halliburton subsidiary knowingly exposed soldiers to cancer-causing chemicals in war-torn Iraq.

The US contractors operating in war-ravaged Iraq and Afghanistan have been accused of violating the law and human rights in the two countries, including killing civilians and involvement in illegal activities.