Two Iraq court-martials set for this week News
Two Iraq court-martials set for this week

[JURIST] Two court-martials of US soldiers accused of killing or abusing Iraqis in separate incidents are set to take place this week at Fort Hood, Texas. On Tuesday, Sgt. Tracy Perkins will stand trial in the deaths of two Iraqis allegedly pushed into into the Tigris River north of Baghdad in January 2004, and on Friday, Sgt. Charles Graner will face a military court accused of conspiracy to mistreat detainees, dereliction of duties, maltreating detainees, assault and indecency. Graner becamee infamous earlier this year for posing behind naked Iraqi prisoners in photographs taken at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison that led to a major scandal and multiple military and civilian investigations. The charge sheet for Graner is available here. Reuters has more. Lawyers for Graner have repeatedly insisted that he was siimply carrying out policies set at a higher level in the chain of command. This week's court-martials happen to coincide with confirmation hearings for White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, whose nomination as Attorney General has been complicated by his role in helping to craft an expansive American policy on torture and interogation that has since been revised and rejected by the Justice Department. Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase:

THIS DAY @ LAW

Standard Oil incorporated

On January 10, 1870, John Davison Rockefeller incorporated Standard Oil. Rockefeller's corporation would grow to achieve a virtual monopoly over oil production in the United States. Standard Oil's dominance lasted until the corporation was split into 34 separate companies in 1911 after the Supreme Court found the company in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The rise of Standard Oil made Rockefeller America's first billionaire and eventually the richest man in the world. Read the text of Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey vs. United States, 221 U.S. 1 (1910).