Via Scott Horton comes the news that the U.S. Marine Corps has charged an Iraqi-Canadian civilian contractor in Iraq with brandishing a knife and stabbing another contractor. The charges follow an important change to the Uniform Code of Military Justice in September 2006, which, in theory, extended the code’s reach to include civilians and contractors on the battlefield. As Scott notes, there’s still much we don’t know here. But this case does represent a significant development in the application of U.S. law to contractors overseas, and I think there will be a lengthy court fight over whether the UCMJ can be applied to civilians in this manner.
