CNN is reporting the passage of a bill permitting 9/11 survivors to sue … Saudi Arabia.
Defying a veto threat from the Obama administration, the House of Representatives easily passed legislation that would allow terror victims of the attacks on September 11, 2001 to sue Saudi Arabia.
The Senate passed the measure by voice vote in May, but the administration has argued it would complicate diplomatic relations with a key ally in the region and warned against moving it forward.
This is puzzling. Why antagonize an ally? Or is Saudi Arabia no longer seen as an ally? Or is this Congress just acting on its feelings? Or even passing the blame, since in the end the American government is responsible for safeguarding the citizenry from foreign threats? I found this comment interesting:
House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Virginia, refuted that the bill interfered with the sovereign immunity of other countries, and said international acts of terrorism deserve to be exceptions in terms of legal liability.
“We can no longer allow those who injure and kill Americans to hide behind legal loopholes, denying justice to the victims of terrorism,” Goodlatte said.
Implicit in the comment are the international courts, but perhaps they are not available, as the ICJ page says,
Only States (States Members of the United Nations and other States which have become parties to the Statute of the Court or which have accepted its jurisdiction under certain conditions) may be parties to contentious cases.
Back to the CNN report, this is a laughable remark:
“There are always diplomatic considerations that get in the way of justice, but if a court proves the Saudis were complicit in 9/11, they should be held accountable,” said Sen. Chuck Schuler, D-New York, a sponsor of the Senate bill. “If they’ve done nothing wrong, they have nothing to worry about.”
Given the xenophobia rampant in the United States, I wouldn’t set foot in an American courtroom under this law if I were a Saudi.
For those of us wondering about the Iranian hostages, the agreement that freed them banned them from suing Iran, as CNN reported last year here.
