JUDGE DENIES IRAQ FUNDS FOR 9/11 VICTIMS - Money needed to rebuild Iraq

Judge Denies Iraq Funds for 9/11 Victims
Thu Sep 11, 4:02 PM ET

By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK - A judge ruled Thursday that families of Sept. 11 victims
cannot tap into Iraqi funds frozen by the United States at the start
of the first Gulf War because the money will be spent to reconstruct
war-torn Iraq.

U.S. District Judge Harold Baer issued the decision after family
members sought to freeze some of the $1.7 billion in funds — which the
Bush administration has already started to use to help pay for Iraq's
revival — to satisfy an earlier court ruling saying Iraq owed the
families $63.5 million.

Baer said the law gave him little choice but to deny the request even
though it may mean that the families are denied the only available
source to satisfy the judgment.

"The government contends that these funds ... are needed to rebuild
Iraq," Baer wrote. "That need is clear, nonetheless one wonders
whether American families who lost loved ones as a result of terrorism
here and abroad ought not be compensated first."

Earlier this year, Baer had concluded that Iraq aided Osama bin
Laden's terror network prior to Sept. 11, 2001, when roughly 3,000
people died in attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a
hijacked plane that crashed in Pennsylvania.

Baer said lawyers for two victims "have shown, albeit barely ... that
Iraq provided material support to bin Laden and al-Qaida."

James Beasley, a Philadelphia lawyer for the families, did not
immediately return a telephone message for comment.

The ruling stemmed from lawsuits brought on behalf of the estates of
George Eric Smith, 38, a senior business analyst for SunGard Asset
Management, and Timothy Soulas, 35, a senior managing director and
partner at Cantor Fitzgerald Securities. Both men worked at the World
Trade Center.

A 1996 law permits lawsuits against countries identified by the State
Department as sponsors of international terrorism.

In article <3f610a1c.12803402@news.cox-internet.com>, Freedom Warrior
wrote:


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Usual Off-Topic Drivel Snipped<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

alt.current-events.iraq
alt.current-events.war-on-terror
alt.current-events.war-on-terror.hussein
alt.current-events.war-on-terror.iraq
alt.current-events.war-on-terrorism
alt.current-events.war-on-terrorism.iraq
alt.war.iraq

The lawyers for the families are complete assholes. The law provides that
the Department of States must establish a "Claims Conference" which must
remain open for families to file claims. Once the conference is closed there
can be no more claims. That includes veterans injured, tortured in Iraq as
well.

At the end of the Vietnam conflict when state established contact with the
Vietnamese communist government on the conditions in which settlements would
be handled the DOS failed to notify the families of U.S. soldiers and
soldiers themselves that they could file a claim which must be resolved
before their can be normal trade relations. Few new of the claims conference
and when it was closed they could no longer file.

"Freedom Warrior " wrote in message
news:3f610a1c.12803402@news.cox-internet.com...
> Judge Denies Iraq Funds for 9/11 Victims
> Thu Sep 11, 4:02 PM ET
>
> By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer
>
> NEW YORK - A judge ruled Thursday that families of Sept. 11 victims
> cannot tap into Iraqi funds frozen by the United States at the start
> of the first Gulf War because the money will be spent to reconstruct
> war-torn Iraq.
>
> U.S. District Judge Harold Baer issued the decision after family
> members sought to freeze some of the $1.7 billion in funds - which the
> Bush administration has already started to use to help pay for Iraq's
> revival - to satisfy an earlier court ruling saying Iraq owed the
> families $63.5 million.
>
> Baer said the law gave him little choice but to deny the request even
> though it may mean that the families are denied the only available
> source to satisfy the judgment.
>
> "The government contends that these funds ... are needed to rebuild
> Iraq," Baer wrote. "That need is clear, nonetheless one wonders
> whether American families who lost loved ones as a result of terrorism
> here and abroad ought not be compensated first."
>
> Earlier this year, Baer had concluded that Iraq aided Osama bin
> Laden's terror network prior to Sept. 11, 2001, when roughly 3,000
> people died in attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a
> hijacked plane that crashed in Pennsylvania.
>
> Baer said lawyers for two victims "have shown, albeit barely ... that
> Iraq provided material support to bin Laden and al-Qaida."
>
> James Beasley, a Philadelphia lawyer for the families, did not
> immediately return a telephone message for comment.
>
> The ruling stemmed from lawsuits brought on behalf of the estates of
> George Eric Smith, 38, a senior business analyst for SunGard Asset
> Management, and Timothy Soulas, 35, a senior managing director and
> partner at Cantor Fitzgerald Securities. Both men worked at the World
> Trade Center.
>
> A 1996 law permits lawsuits against countries identified by the State
> Department as sponsors of international terrorism.
>
>