Blackwater affiliate seeking legal relief in sharia law

The Charlotte Raleigh News & Observer has an unbelievable story about how Presidential Airways, a Blackwater affilate that is being sued by three widows of U.S. soldiers who died when one of its planes crashed in Afghanistan, is trying to fend off a lawsuit by claiming that sharia law applies:

The lawsuit 'is governed by the law of Afghanistan,' Presidential Airways argued in a Florida federal court. 'Afghan law is largely religion-based and evidences a strong concern for ensuring moral responsibility, and deterring violations of obligations within its borders.'

If the judge agrees, it would essentially end the lawsuit over a botched flight supporting the U.S. military. Shari’a law does not hold a company responsible for the actions of employees performed within the course of their work.

An investigation (pdf) of the crash by the National Transportation Safety Board found that eight minutes before plowing into the side of a canyon, the plane's co-pilot told his partner, "yeah you're an x-wing fighter star wars man." And later, "I swear to god they wouldn't pay me if they knew how much fun this was."

I somehow doubt that the sharia defense is going to fly. I asked Peter W. Singer, an expert on military contracting at the Brookings Institution, to weigh in on the case. He noted, "This truly flies in the face of their prior argument that they should be considered legally immune, as if they were a sovereign part of the US government operations (which was a specious argument to begin, but truly odd sounding now)."