« It begins: the war build-up lying | Main | And Bush doesn't give a flying damn »
February 16, 2005
Bush administration is suing U.S. POWs
This is insane! For the love of all that was once good in this country, send this story to every Bush-apologist you know. The LA Times:
WASHINGTON — The latest chapter in the legal history of torture is being written by American pilots who were beaten and abused by Iraqis during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. And it has taken a strange twist.
The Bush administration is fighting the former prisoners of war in court, trying to prevent them from collecting nearly $1 billion from Iraq that a federal judge awarded them as compensation for their torture at the hands of Saddam Hussein's regime.
Can I have one Bush-apologist volunteer who can explain to me how the fucking hell Bush "supports the troops"?
Related flashback: Bush has a long history of blocking valid lawsuits. During this lawsuit blockage, then-governor Bush perjured himself. More on "Funeralgate" here and here.
Posted By Bob Cesca | February 16, 2005 08:26 AM | DIGG ME!
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.bobcesca.com/cgi-bin/MT/mt-tb.cgi/306
Comments
Bush is worried that America would end up having to pay out billions of dollars to all the people his regime has tortured. That could add up in the trillions.
Posted by: skrambled at February 16, 2005 10:41 AM
Im just curious, and this is legitmate curiosity, not the smart assed rhetorical kind, how an American judge can order another goverment to pay American citizens. Can a judge in Japan order us to pay out to a Japanese guy? or any other combination? I mean, wouldnt you have to go through some kind of international group, or get that compensation as part of a treaty?
Posted by: Lactar ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.bobcesca.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 16, 2005 08:09 PM
skrambled -- not if you read the part that says "collecting nearly $1 billion from Iraq".
Note the "from Iraq" part.
Posted by: sean at February 17, 2005 10:19 AM
Lactar - you can sue a foreign government in a US court, according to the Supreme Court.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1085626393788
Posted by: sean at February 17, 2005 10:22 AM
Skram - I misread your pronoun "his", which was silly of me.
I think you're assuming a level of fairness that I haven't seen out of Bush's administration (or, indeed, most admins) but, beyond that, I'm pretty sure that US court rulings only apply to the US. Like, an Iraqi can't sue the American gov't in the Iraqi courts based on an American court case decision [both because the precedent is based on American things like the Constitution *and* because America wouldn't recognize their right to], and he wouldn't have the right to sue the American gov't in the American court system. Stuff like this is why Bush kept us out of the World Court (I may have that name wrong), and bashed Kerry for even suggesting that we should join it, because he didn't want America to be on an equal playing field with any other country.
Posted by: sean at February 18, 2005 11:14 AM
And maybe just maybe he didn't want to see Daddy, Ollie, & Co. standing before the world accounting for what they did in South America.
Posted by: Cindy Schneider at February 18, 2005 11:37 AM
