Libel Tourism - Rich Saudis Sue for Libel [View All]

A group of wealthy Saudi businessmen have opened up a new front in the terror wars. Confronted with inquiries into their alleged ties to the financing of Islamic terror groups, they have launched an ambitious campaign to clear their names by filing defamation suits in the British courts.

IN A GROWING phenomenon that lawyers have dubbed “libel tourism,” the Saudis are seeking to invoke Britain’s plaintiff-friendly libel laws to silence critics in the United States and in the international community.
The legal actions come at a time when American lawyers for the families of September 11 victims are aggressively pursuing a $1 trillion lawsuit in the United States that accuses dozens of Saudi royal princes and wealthy businessmen of providing funding that led to the terror attacks. By targeting U.S. media organizations and others in the British courts, some of the Saudis may hope to shift the focus and win judgments elsewhere.
The opening salvo in this Saudi counteroffensive may start as early as this December when The Wall Street Journal goes to trial in a libel action filed against it by two members of the Jeddah-based Jameel family, which operates the largest independent Toyota dealership in the world.

http://msnbc.com/news/983793.asp?0cl=c1

Can Americans sue Bush for the same principle?