PDA

View Full Version : Iraq Will Use Sept 11 Bill To Sue US Government For 2003 Invasion, Demand Compensation




Lucille
10-03-2016, 02:54 PM
"Wonderful! (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?500774-US-House-adopts-%92Sue-the-Saudis%92-9-11-bill) Let the lawsuits rain down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream!"

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-03/iraq-will-use-sept-11-bill-sue-us-government-demand-compensation-2003-invasion


However, in an unexpected twist, over the weekend following the passage of JASTA, it was citizens of Iraq who asked their parliament to demand compensation for the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. As Al-Arabiya news channel reported on Saturday, an Iraqi group has requested parliament to prepare a lawsuit seeking compensation from the US for the invasion of Iraq. The "Arab Project in Iraq" lobby group "sees their opportunity to ask for compensation from the United States over violations by the US forces following the US invasion that saw the toppling of late President Saddam Hussein in 2003."

Even before Obama's veto had been overriden, the group had warned that "In light of the majority vote by the US Congress and Senate in support of the 9/11 bill removing the sovereign immunity rights of Saudi Arabia and other countries accused of being implicated in terrorism—and in spite of President Obama’s veto on September 23rd 2016—we hereby declare that if this bill is actually passed and becomes a law, then it constitutes a window of opportunity for millions of Iraqis who have lost their sons and daughters in military operations by US military forces and US contracted forces since the US invasion in 2003 to pursue compensation from the US government for what they have endured," a letter published by the Iraqi National Project warned, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

The group urged for a full-fledged investigation over the killing of civilians targets, loss of properties and individuals who suffered torture and other mistreatment on the hand of US forces.

While hardly intended to have this effect - where the US itself is sued for alleged terrorist acticity - the Iraqi group is the first foreign entity to take advantage of the precedent set by JASTA in overturning the principle of sovereign immunity. By passing JASTA and allowing 9/11 families to sue Saudi Arabia, the Senate has also made the US vulnerable to legal action seeking compensation for its foreign policy activities across the world.
[...]
Meanwhile, as Saudi Arabia continues to deny any culpability for the 9/11 attacks, and has warned that it might be forced to sell off billions of US assets to avoid sanctions if JASTA became law, the Saudi Press Agency, as reported earlier, stressed that the adoption of "JASTA" Law in the United States of America is of great concern to the international community in which international relations are based on the principle of equality and sovereign immunity, the principle governing international relations for hundreds of years."

Previous warnings by Saudi Arabia were harsher: earlier in the year the Kingdom warned it "would be forced to sell up to $750 billion in Treasury securities and other assets in the United States before they could be in danger of being frozen by American courts," Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told the US Congress in March, the New York Times reported. Saudi Arabia has yet to repeat this warning, or make good on its threat.

wizardwatson
10-03-2016, 02:59 PM
"Unexpected twist" my left foot. This is why Obama vetoed it, and why I and others were saying this as well on RPF.

My guess is this was the ultimate intent. Not to give justice to Americans but to force Americans to start paying reparations for the elites crimes (who will just jump ship anyway) as part of it's scheduled decline into oblivion per TPTB.

wizardwatson
10-03-2016, 03:03 PM
I would support CRIMINAL action bill. Not this civil action monetary compensation as if the murderer is some abstract legal entity. If specific people broke the law, prosecute them. What good does "suing the government" do? There is no justice in that. That's just the people paying themselves. Victimized twice over.

Lucille
10-03-2016, 03:12 PM
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2016/april/20/sue-saudis-for-911-and-the-us-for-all-its-wars/


Wonderful! Let the lawsuits rain down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream!

Suing Saudis over 9/11 will only set a precedent if it succeeds, which is to say if there is evidence of Saudi complicity. We know that there is, according to former Senator Bob Graham and others who have read 28 pages censored from a US Senate report. Pressure is building in Congress both to reveal those 28 pages and to allow lawsuits. And yet another Senate bill gaining support would block further US arming of Saudi Arabia.

The precedent of allowing international victims to sue those complicit in murder would not place you, dear reader, or I at risk of any lawsuits. It would, however, put numerous top US officials and former officials at risk of suits from many corners of the globe, including from the seven nations that President Obama has bragged about bombing: Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Libya. It's not as if any of these wars is legal under Kellogg-Briand or the UN Charter.
[...]
Even just the precedent of allowing suits against Saudi Arabia could have far-reaching consequences before expanding it to other countries. Imagine if Yemenis could sue Saudis for the current slaughter from the air? If they could, then what about Boeing? And what about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who allowed Boeing to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia after Boeing gave her family foundation $900,000 and Saudi Arabia gave over $10 million?
[...]
Of course, Obama and Kerry may be raising the notion of a precedent for suing the US mostly as cover for the fact that they are showing greater loyalty to the Saudi royalty than to 9/11 victims. The US public needs only the slightest excuse to avoid recognizing where its rulers true loyalties lie. Italy has convicted CIA agents of kidnapping to torture, and never sought their extradition. Pakistani courts have already ruled against US drone murders, and the US has failed to so much as yawn in response. The US has refused to join the International Criminal Court, and claims a unique status outside the rule of law -- a rogue status for which it would urge sanctions on any other nation claiming something similar while possessing too much oil or not enough US weaponry.

Still, precedents can be set politically and legally, even against the will of one of the parties involved. For US foreign policy to be compelled to treat 9/11 as the crime that it was, a crime committed by certain individuals, could mean a few important things:

(1) a serious investigation of 9/11,

(2) rejection of the idea that 9/11 was part of a war launched by the entire world, or the Muslim portion of the world, and in which the United States is entitled to seek revenge thousands of times over and without limits in time or space,

(3) greater understanding that US terrorism, just like 9/11 but on a larger scale, is criminal activity for which particular individuals can be held accountable.

What could answer the deepest needs of the 9/11 victims and family members could also answer many needs of US victims in Yemen, Pakistan, Iraq, etc., and that is a truth and reconciliation commission. Getting to that will be accomplished by precedents and changes in thinking in our culture, not by any particular legal development. Such a procedure would be a success if afterwards the US and Saudi and other governments began paying reparations in the form of humanitarian aid, costing them far less than they are now putting into wars, but doing a world of good for people rather than the criminal harm being done right now and for years past.

juleswin
10-03-2016, 03:37 PM
Not going to happen, first of all, the Iraqi govt is a US/EU puppet govt, no way they would turn around and sue the puppet master
Secondly, we already have courts to bring the sort of cases to. The international court that successful sued Libya for the Lockerbie bombing.
Lastly, they wouldn't win if they sued because the main reason they attacked was because the got the UN to say that they did not comply with the weapons inspections. Plus they got UN security council authorizations to do so.

PierzStyx
10-03-2016, 04:24 PM
"Unexpected twist" my left foot. This is why Obama vetoed it, and why I and others were saying this as well on RPF.

My guess is this was the ultimate intent. Not to give justice to Americans but to force Americans to start paying reparations for the elites crimes (who will just jump ship anyway) as part of it's scheduled decline into oblivion per TPTB.

I say it is wonderful. Maybe people will start paying attention if they have to start paying for it. Money talks when morals won't.

enhanced_deficit
10-03-2016, 09:51 PM
Iraq Will Use Sept 11 Bill To Sue US Government For 2003 Invasion, Demand CompensationIraq Will Use Sept 11 Bill To Sue US Government For 2003 Invasion, Demand Compensation (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?501885-Iraq-Will-Use-Sept-11-Bill-To-Sue-US-Government-For-2003-Invasion-Demand-Compensation&)


Could this put assets of Clinton Foundation, NYT, Bush ranch etc at risk?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSu0zXCR9sE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSu0zXCR9sE



Related

Trump: Families Of Soldiers Killed In Iraq Should Sue NYT For WMD Reporting, US made Iraq mess (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?486352-Trump-Families-Of-Soldiers-Killed-In-Iraq-Should-Sue-NYT-For-WMD-Reporting-US-made-Iraq-mess&)