(AP) Judge: Iran has some blame in '96 attack (Khobar Towers, Saudi)

Eugene

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Fri Dec-22-06 12:21 PM
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(AP) Judge: Iran has some blame in '96 attack (Khobar Towers, Saudi)

Friday, December 22, 2006 � Last updated 8:22 a.m. PT

Judge: Iran has some blame in '96 attack

By MATT APUZZO
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

WASHINGTON -- The Iranian government is partly to blame for a 1996 terrorist attack
that killed 19 Americans in Saudi Arabia, a federal judge ruled Friday.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth allows the families of the victims
of the Khobar Towers bombing to seek $254 million in compensation from the conservative
Islamic regime in Tehran.

Though intelligence officials have suspected a link between the Tehran government and
the Saudi wing of Hezbollah, which the FBI has accused of carrying out the bombing,
Friday's ruling is the first time a branch of the U.S. government has officially blamed
Iran for the deaths of Americans in the bombings.

-snip-

Lamberth relied heavily on testimony by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, who investigated
the bombings.

-snip-

Full article: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1155AP_Terrorist_Bombing_Lawsuit.html

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caraher

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Fri Dec-22-06 01:08 PM
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1. How about the Vincennes shootdown?

How much did the US pay families of the victims after shooting down the Iranian airbus? Per Wikipedia:

On February 22, 1996 the United States agreed to pay Iran US$ 61.8 million in compensation ($300,000 per wage-earning victim, $150,000 per non-wage-earner) for the 248 Iranians killed in the shootdown, but not for the aircraft, which was estimated to be worth approximately US$30 million. This was an agreed settlement to discontinue a case brought by Iran in 1989 against the U.S. in the International Court of Justice.<14> The payment of compensation was explicitly characterised by the US as being on an ex gratia basis, and the U.S. denied having any responsibility or liability for the incident.

So is this a kind of "criminal negligence discount?" Surely Iranian lives are not considered less valuable...:sarcasm:

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chefgirl

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Sat Dec-23-06 01:09 AM
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2. Yeah, Yeah

Sounds to me like the drumbeat starting up again...this time for war against Iran.

The Khobar Towers bombing is one of those hot button issues for RWers, originally because they held Clinton responsible for not doing more to prevent it.
This just smacks of the RW trying to 'seed' public perception, just like they did with the WMD in Iraq, in order to give the mouth breathers some bullshit reason to support a war against another sovereign nation.

We shall see.

-chef-

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