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"The totality of the evidence at trial . . . firmly establishes that the Khobar Towers bombing was planned, funded, and sponsored by senior leadership in the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran." In other ages, that would have been considered an act of war. Now it is considered an occasion to offer various gifts to Iran to get them to stop.
By Carol D. Leonnig in the Washington Post, with thanks to Davida:
A federal judge ruled yesterday that Iran is responsible for the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing and ordered that the government pay $254 million to the families of 17 Americans who died in the attack in Saudi Arabia.Whether the families of the dead U.S. servicemen and women will ever receive that money remains in question. Iran has refused to participate in the case and insists it has no connection to the bombing. The families' law firm plans to try to track down Iranian government assets in countries around the world and claim them to collect the damages.
Nineteen people died in June 1996 when a truck bomb blew up the tower-style dormitory for U.S. Air Force pilots and staff. U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth's ruling yesterday was the first time an American court found that Iranian government agencies and senior ministers financed and directed the bombing by a militant Saudi wing of the Islamist terrorist group Hezbollah.
"The totality of the evidence at trial . . . firmly establishes that the Khobar Towers bombing was planned, funded, and sponsored by senior leadership in the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Lamberth wrote. "The defendants' conduct in facilitating, financing, and providing material support to bring about this attack was intentional, extreme, and outrageous."
Lamberth's decision in the lawsuit, which was filed in 2002 by the families of 17 victims, reverses a lower magistrate judge who said evidence linking the Iranian government to the bombing was not convincing.
Lamberth said the leading experts on Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group based in Lebanon, presented "overwhelming" evidence that the Iranian military worked with Saudi Hezbollah members to execute the attack, and the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security provided money, plans and maps to help carry out the bombing. Six Hezbollah members captured after the attacks implicated Iranian officials.
Posted by Robert at December 23, 2006 8:08 AM
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Wikipedia has a decent entry on the Kobar Towers bombing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khobar_Towers_bombing
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at December 23, 2006 8:27 AM
"The totality of the evidence at trial . . . firmly establishes that the Khobar Towers bombing was planned, funded, and sponsored by senior leadership in the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran," ......Yes by all means watch out for those Sunni's....Iran is about to start a war like the world have never seen!....and they are Shia...I am sick of all this talk about the Sunni.
Posted by: storagemanager at December 23, 2006 8:47 AM
Iranian military worked with Saudi Hezbollah members to execute the attack,
Once again, saudi fingerprints are all over dead Americans.
Once again - crickets chirping.
Posted by: infidel! at December 23, 2006 9:10 AM
search "Khobar Towers" "conspiracy theory"
9,730 hits
601 hits
So this goes, in the MSM, from an anti-Muslim bigot Conspiracy Theory to fact in one day. Moreover, it turns out the government knew this all along.
Imagine what would happen if the MSM read the Koran before telling us what it says. Or read Jihad Watch.
at December 23, 2006 10:11 AM
Iran has always denied any role in this attack and will never pay up? Doesn't the US still have Iranian funds tied up dating back to the hostage crisis? If so it should use that money to compensate the victims' families.
When Monkey Man finally provokes a US attack and misguided fools start whining about how bad we are let them keep this incident in mind. Iran has literally gotten away with murder for almost 30 years thanks to Satan Khomeini's evil revolution.
Posted by: ISLAMSFORLOSERS at December 23, 2006 10:35 AM
I can assure people that if a 747 was fully loaded with fuel and flown into Mecca
during Hajj and slammed into the Rock and slaughtered thousands of Muslims circling it at the time , very few Muslims would be demanding calm and asking fellow Muslims to not prejudge who might have done this and make all non-Muslims the scapegoat for revenge.
But when 19 Muslims slaughter 3000 civilian in the USA we see CAIR and Mr.Hooper asking Americans to not blame any one group until
the evidence comes out for who was behind it .
People are geting sick of the crap from Muslims that are stuck in the denial stage over the 9/11 murders and the earlier garage truck-bomb in 93 , even after Hooper had no choice but to accept the Islamic link to 9/11 he then went to the fallback position of saying that they 19 hijackers weren't TRUE Muslims and misunderstood the Quran and Hijacked islam.
BTW , now that the yahoo with the bad hair-cut
at CAIR has made threats to Walmart if they don't stop selling the video game that make Christians look violent , WalMart should sue CAIR if just one of their stores is vandalized from the incitement of hatred for Walmart by CAIR
making this an Islamic issue and an offence to Allah.
If CAIR can get away with bogus vandalism claims to Mosques when noone is arrested to prove Islamophobia and the Police must respond to it as a hate-crime , then let the Law-suits begin
and CAIR will cease to be a charity-Status group with almost all the donations going to law Suits and lawyer fees .
at December 23, 2006 11:17 AM
But then talk to a neocon. We're IN WWIII, they exclaim. Khobar Towers, Spain, London, USS Cole, 9/11...it's the legions of Islamofascists. Don't believe us? YOU are in denial. YOU are Neville Chamberlain. THEY are Adolph Hitler. If we don't act now, you will be dead or kneeling to Mecca before the decade's out.Does anyone else see a common theme here? Chicken Little, call your office.
-Robert Capozzi
Posted by Robert Capozzi on September 15, 2006 08:39 AM |
at December 23, 2006 11:26 AM
Tell it to the judge.
Posted by: Old Atlantic at December 23, 2006 11:29 AM
In other ages, that would have been considered an act of war. Now it is considered an occasion to offer various gifts to Iran to get them to stop.
we have some here keep bleeting out about containment and other non military actions. but in the world of islam they only know and respect bang for the buck.
Posted by: ZenaWarriorPrincess at December 23, 2006 11:49 AM
We MUST respond to this act of war!!! Iran MUST be held accountable. Iran MUST be shown the door IMMEDIATELY. No nation rebuilding, who cares. No after war aid. Who cares. We need to go in there and let Iran become the extreme example of what happens to nations who attack the USA. We need to hit them three ways: hard; fast; and continually. Enough politics and giving every one EXCEPT the American people chance after chance. They attacked us. Get the fat lady and hand her the mike...
Posted by: angryeagle at December 23, 2006 12:05 PM
"Iran has literally gotten away with murder for almost 30 years thanks to Satan Khomeini's evil revolution."
Wrong.
Iran has gotten away with murder for almost thirty years because Jimmy Carter got rid of the "tyrant" shah and because Iran has oil and because the Europeans would rather play footsie with the Iranians than admit the danger they represent. For proof, just look at the EU "negotiations" with Iran over its nuclear program. Peace at any price. Buy a prayer rug. It's for sure Tony Blair has, judging by his many proclamations about the religion of peace.
at December 23, 2006 12:26 PM
"IRAN HELD LIABLE"
....a contradiction in terms. Iran won't take responsibility for their actions; so I doubt these poor families will ever see one dime of this money.
Posted by: champ at December 23, 2006 12:51 PM
Exactly Mr. Spencer- in times past the reaction would have been swift and sure- now we've becoem so stinking pc that we coddle those who murder us despite the fact that it has been proven over and over again that doing so only leads to increased murder against us.
The bible talks about how in the end days God will give people over to their sins and will cause them to believe powerful delusions and lies. I think we are swiftly headed for just that sort of thing as evidenced by the mentality of feeding th4 crocs in the hopes of being the last ones eaten by them. http://sacredscoop.com
Posted by: CottShop at December 23, 2006 12:56 PM
Yes, angryeagle, this would be considered an act or war by anything other than this castrated, lame-duck, administration. I wouldn't, however, hold my breath waiting for action against the screaming idiots in Iran OR Saudi Arabia.
Isn't it funny how atrocities are things like "waterboarding" and the sophomoric hi-jinks at various terrorist rest and recuperation centers but it is never an atrocity when these towel-headed nitwits kill people in WHOLESALE numbers? The only way to deal with these fools is to ban THEM from society in any way possible, no matter what it entails.
Posted by: Rowane at December 23, 2006 1:08 PM
this circle jerk will always lead back to the essential question: are we in a war with terrorists/radical islam and the states that sponsor them?
yes or no? simple answer please. save all the UN speak for the losers that love Darfur and Rwanda type results.
if the answer is no then lets just stop crying the blues about murderous thugs. history is littered with them. let them keep killing until they die natural deaths--after all they couldn't possibly kill all of us?!
however if the answer is yes, then why are the leaders and the advisers of iran, syria, sudan, hamas, hezzbollah and al sadr still alive? they are the world's leading terror leaders. until they are all killed at the same time without warning, this war is bullshit. we deserve every bad thing that may befall us--and many things are being planned by these folks right now. that future blood will be on the hands of all you nuanced thinkers who think war is some kind of video version of the old board game "Diplomacy". letting our soldiers and civilians get killed everyday to placate world opinion and do the right thing is contemptible.
we need Sherman's march to the sea. otherwise we should shut up and bring the troops home and give them their caliphate.
as for the possible london/uk attacks,
Who cares...
I'm yawning. who really cares? lets say there is one and a few londoner's go down. so what. what exactly are we going to do about it? come on folks, you know. spit it out. that's right NOTHING.
bush and Blair are going to jump up and down in their playpens and make idle threats that have no meaning. (i.e.) korea has nukes and iran is getting theirs. my question remains---why are the world's terror leaders alive and why do they get to plan how to kill us everyday while we fete them at cocktail parties and politicians--primarily dems--want to chat them up.
the leaders of iran, syria, hamas, hezzbollah etc are the terror generals and leaders in this 21st century war. everyday they get up and sip their lattes' and arrange for a few more infidels to be killed. we let them live. sorry london, but it may be your turn again.
at December 23, 2006 1:18 PM
Iran won't take responsibility for their actions; so I doubt these poor families will ever see one dime of this money. - Champ
There may be some good news here. True, Ahmadinejad will never sign a check, but it is possible to fund the settlements out of frozen Iranian assets under US control. Terry Anderson, the former hostage, got a settlement this way.
I don't know if there's $254M to go around at this point, or how long it would take to pay it out, but with this option on the table, the Khobar families need not go completely empty-handed.
Posted by: MarisolJW at December 23, 2006 1:50 PM
This is total BS. Khobar Towers attack was committed by Al Qaeda not Hezbollah. I highly doubt a Shiite group would be allowed to practice in a Sunni state. Hezbollah was responsible for the Beirut Marine barracks bombing in the 1980's under the Reagan Administration which did nothing to retaliate. I think someone is getting confused between the two separate bombings on our military barracks.
The good news today is Russia has finally agreed to UN sanctions on Iran.
Posted by: Bonniea at December 23, 2006 2:20 PM
As far as going into frozen Iranian assets for lawsuit compensation....
There were recent court judgments for $90 million and $400 million to be taken from frozen Cuban assets to compensate Cuban families. Whose families members were executed by Castro etc. Wildly excessive but there you go
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/florida/news-article.aspx?storyid=71281
Posted by: dennisw at December 23, 2006 3:37 PM
"the leaders of iran, syria, hamas, hezzbollah etc are the terror generals and leaders in this 21st century war. everyday they get up and sip their lattes' and arrange for a few more infidels to be killed. we let them live. sorry london, but it may be your turn again."
Good post Patrick
as an Englishman living very close to London I fear you may be right, and if the rumours are to be believed this one is going to be nasty - much more nasty than 7/7. And you are correct - afterwards nothing will be done about it. We are crippled by PC and no one dares to say who or what the enemy is. The Government will do absolutely nothing. Time for change!
Any Generals/Brigadiers/Lieutenant-Colonels out there listening? Your country needs you. Who's up for a military coup?
Posted by: hierophant at December 23, 2006 3:57 PM
Had the Iranian government done this on US soil, that would be an act of war against USA.
But they didn't. They did it on Saudi soil. So it is likely an act of war against Saudi. The fact Saudi Arabia apparently does not consider it so is and interesting observation but still only a matter for the Saudis.
This case should have been prosecuted in Saudi. Oh yes I can hear the outrage now saying "Oh but the Saudis won't prosecute this because they are whatever they are etc etc etc" but the reality is that any decision by an American court is really only symbolic and I wonder if it enhances US Authority in the world or not.
at December 24, 2006 2:55 AM
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