Judge bars suit against Iraq war contractor

Whistle-blowers plan to appeal dismissal of fraud allegations

Updated: 5:31 p.m. ET Feb. 8, 2007

McLEAN, Va. - For the second time, a judge has dismissed a lawsuit against a military contractor that whistle-blowers accuse of scamming the U.S. government out of tens of millions of dollars in the first months of the Iraq war.

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III in Alexandria ruled in favor of Fairfax-based Custer Battles LLC, which has been pilloried in Congress and elsewhere as an example of the fraud and mismanagement that plagued the occupation of Iraq under the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority.

Dismissing a lawsuit filed by two whistle-blowers, Ellis said there was no evidence that Custer Battles committed fraud while under a $16.8 million contract to provide security at Baghdad International Airport in 2003. The ruling was issued Feb. 2 and made public Tuesday. >>>cont

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