Fed Court Clears Another Torture Lawsuit Against Donald Rumsfeld

CHICAGO (The Blaze/AP) -- A court says two Americans who worked for an Iraqi contracting firm can move forward with a lawsuit accusing former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of being responsible for U.S. forces allegedly torturing them.

Last week, The Blaze reported on another case in which an Army veteran who says he was imprisoned unjustly and tortured by the U.S. military in Iraq has been cleared to sue Rumsfeld personally for damages.

The ruling Monday from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago rejects arguments that Rumsfeld should be immune from such lawsuits for work performed as a Cabinet secretary. Bloomberg has more:

"We conclude that plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged that Secretary Rumsfeld acted deliberately in authorizing interrogation techniques that amount to torture,” U.S. Circuit Judge David Hamilton wrote for the three-judge panel.

Whether Vance and Ertel can actually prove that assertion “remains to be seen,” the court said.

Donald Vance and Nathan Ertel claim they were tortured in 2006 after blowing the whistle on alleged illegal activities by the contracting company. They say they were subjected to sleep deprivation, blasting music, hunger and various threats.

U.S. District Judge Wayne R. Andersen in Illinois last year found that the two could pursue claims that they were tortured using Rumsfeld-approved methods. This most recent decision was the former Defense Secretary's appeal to Andersen's position, which he lost. Below, watch Vance discuss the case:

The lawsuit describes such practices as torture and alleges Rumsfeld personally took part in approving the methods for use by the military in Iraq.