White House Turns Its Back on Former American POWs

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-na-pow15feb15,0,5633055,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines

The latest chapter in the legal history of torture is being written by U.S. pilots who were beaten and abused by Iraqis during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. And it has taken a strange twist.

The Bush administration is fighting the former prisoners of war in court, trying to prevent them from collecting nearly $1 billion from Iraq that a federal judge awarded them as compensation for their torture at the hands of Saddam Hussein's regime.

The rationale: Today's Iraqis are good guys, and they need the money.

The case abounds with ironies. It pits the U.S. government squarely against its own war heroes and the Geneva Conventions.

Many of the pilots were tortured in the same Iraqi prison, Abu Ghraib, where U.S. soldiers abused Iraqis 15 months ago. Those Iraqi victims, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has said, deserve compensation from the United States.

But the U.S. victims of Iraqi torturers are not entitled to similar payments from Iraq, the U.S. government says.

[bluestateguy]

1. What did you expect?

This is the president whose father told a group of Vietnam POW/MIA families to "Sit down and shut up" in 1992.

[GetTheRightVote]

2. the * family are a bunch of bast**ds, time to clean house of the scum

:kick:

[UL_Approved]

3. This is total crap

And it is so blatant that the MSM is covering the story before midnight (MST). I wonder when Bush will get the backlash that we all see in his future...

[TaleWgnDg]

4. My take on this is . . .

My take on this is . . .

(1) there may not be enough votes on the U.S. Supreme Court bench to grant certiorari on this case, or
(2) if cert is granted, then the federal appellate court will be upheld.

According to this news article (in the LATimes), the federal appellate court ruled that:

"When the POWs' case went before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the three-judge panel ruled unanimously for the Bush administration and threw out the lawsuit.

" 'The United States possesses weighty foreign-policy interests that are clearly threatened by the entry of judgment for (the POWs) in this case,' " the appeals court said.

This newspaper article doesn't articulate all the appropriate "legalese;" however, the gist of it is correct that the Court will defer to the executive branch/commander-in-chief during times of "war" and terrorism and under these circumstances as well as congress who authorized certain laws that may exempt paying these monies.

edited for typo and to include the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit's (No. 03-5232) opinion dated June 4, 2004: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/dc/035232a.pdf (this url is in .PDF format)

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. and the men in uniform (with ONE woman) as usual pay

they don't care abuot our troops in uniform, they are just resources

[Mojorabbit]

6. If they are paid the money

then the US will be sued by the Iraqi's we tortured. It would only be fair and there is documentation this time.Perhaps this is a consideration they are making. The whole thing sucks.

[Divine Discontent]

7. ughh...

pisses me off... send this to everyone you know.

[ConcernedCanuk]

8. I had the fortune/misfortune of visiting a VA hospital in SanDiego in '79

.
.
.

I think ALL recruits should visit, be REQUIRED to visit a VA hospital or two before they enlist.

The Gov't would soon upgrade conditions for vets, or find themselves with the smallest armed forces per capita in the World (unless they draft them in)

I was sickened at the sight of the conditions of the hospital and the people, and knew a few of the vets (mostly from Vietnam at that time) personally.

The stories I was told were nothing like one could read in the media at the time, and even are hard to find today.

I don't know if there ever WAS a time when the Admin took GOOD care of the people it sends off to do their "dirty work"? :shrug:

Somehow I suspect not . .

(sigh)

[saigon68]

9. The Bush Criminals Strike Again

Expect anything different?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

10. Oh my god. These people are unbelievable.

Of course, they have no urge to try and collect on the contractors who have been ripping off the country. Oh yeah. The contractors/corporations are good guys and workers are bad.

[no_to_war_economy]

11. White House Turns Tables on Former American POWs

The latest chapter in the legal history of torture is being written by American pilots who were beaten and abused by Iraqis during the 1991 Persian Gulf War (news - web sites). And it has taken a strange twist.

The Bush administration is fighting the former prisoners of war in court, trying to prevent them from collecting nearly $1 billion from Iraq (news - web sites) that a federal judge awarded them as compensation for their torture at the hands of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime

The case abounds with ironies. It pits the U.S. government squarely against its own war heroes and the Geneva Convention.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/latimests/20050215/ts_latimes/whitehouseturnstablesonformeramericanpows&cid=2026&ncid=1478

[truthisfreedom]

15. put it on the news, Ed and Al.

and keep it there, simmering.

[applegrove]

16. Think how much the Guantanamo people could sue for?

And slave reparations etc. Every corporation could be sued for harming the environment in 30 years (when it will be obvious that the environment is permanently damaged). And the environment will be damaged all over the world in 30 years.

Of course they are against it. This White House gets its marching order from Corporations. Human decency is "SO OVER".

[yorkiemommie1]

25. Excellent book: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

by John Perkins. Corporatocracy is all.

Time for me to reread The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills, too.

edited for punctuation

[applegrove]

26. Tks. But that guy is so warped from his time as a hit man that

I cannot tolerate him. I just find it all a little too spooky. And I find I need to have established a little bit of trust with the people I read.

[LinuxInsurgent]

12. learn your lesson, Army boys...

we dissidents TOLD YOU the government cares nothing about you...and that you are simply useful drones in the machinations of this government...but...NO...you had to prove that your country still loves your sacrifice, right?

Ever since Vietnam, people who really want to know...have known that the government lies, cuts benefits, delays payments, leaves veterans on the streets, etc. (what do you think the movie Born on the 4th of July) was all about?

Get a hint....your service WILL be ignored...don't fall for the hype.

[kiraboo]

13. There is now so much accumulated evidence

which tells us that the * administration will screw you up, down and inside out if it gets the chance - that anybody who takes a course of action based on its promises is just stupid. It's like taking up smoking. You light up: the evidence tells you that you will get cancer or emphysema. You back the Shrub: the evidence tells you you will be royally f***ed.

[Skidmore]

14. So where's McCain on this one? Or is he too

busy straigthening *s tie to pay attention.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

18. licking his shoes

is my vote.

[frictionlessO]

17. sick sick sick, twisted shit!!!

disgusting!!!

[drummer55]

19. White House Turns Tables on Former American POWs

WASHINGTON — The latest chapter in the legal history of torture is being written by American pilots who were beaten and abused by Iraqis during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. And it has taken a strange twist.

The Bush administration is fighting the former prisoners of war in court, trying to prevent them from collecting nearly $1 billion from Iraq that a federal judge awarded them as compensation for their torture at the hands of Saddam Hussein's regime

More at LAtimes...


http://tinyurl.com/4tkrd

[NYC Liberal]

20. Hey, those were just frat pranks...get over it! (eom)

[merwin]

21. Please post the non-tinyurl link. I dont support tinyurl, but

want to read it.

Thanks

[drummer55]

22. here it is

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-na-pow15feb15,0,5633055,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[slipslidingaway]

23. This is the POW's site

"When the POW group and their families conceived of this effort and determined that they would go forward, no one would have guessed that, after offering international arbitration to Iraq and gathering the evidence of the crimes committed, the group would be fighting its own government in order to hold the perpetrators of torture accountable.

Included here are background materials explaining how this set of circumstances has come to pass:"

http://www.stoppowtorture.org/index.php/facts.html

[Kimber Scott]

24. Do they have somebody who sits around thinking up the right thing to do

all them time so they can do the opposite? These people are so unfuckingbelievable it's unfuckingbelievable.

[Obamanaut]

27. This is the last straw for me

I went to a restaurant last week wearing my retired USN ball cap, and was politely asked my views on our recent treatment of veterans, especially wounded ones. I held forth for several minutes on the debacle that is the war effort, the BS about the back door draft, and ridiculous expenditures with no accountability and to my surprise was told “I agree with that.” I could not have done this six months ago.

I am a 62 yr old retired Navy Master Chief who has generally voted Republican most of my voting career. I stumbled upon this site by accident, and you will never know how much I have learned here by reading your posts and following a multitude of the links in many of them. Even my wife of 36 years has been impressed at my new ability to carry on an intelligent (I know, Republican and intelligent are contradictory terms) conversation re politics and current events. You have awakened in me a desire to learn even more. I now have shortcuts to sites found in your links all over my desktop. Little yellow post-its abound on the edges of my monitor. I cannot thank you enough for all your educational posts and links.

How can any right-minded individual support this current crap? I’ve had it - 41 years of wasted votes. No more.

[Steven_S]

28. welcome to du, Master Chief.

We have changed many minds, with many more to go.

[ContraBass Black]

29. YYYEEEESSSS!!!!!!!

Thank you for making my day.

Though initiated in bitter disenchantment, yours is a story of hope; the hope that through awareness and reason, the hold of this administration's lies and falsely patriotic and militaristic posturing can be broken.


Welcome to the Democratic Underground.

[Megahurtz]

30. Welcome to DU, my friend

:hi:The Truth WILL set you free!

[Ezlivin]

31. Looks like we're gonna need a Goat Locker here!

Welcome aboard, Chief. I'm a retired (disability) submarine veteran, married to a Navy veteran and voted Republican in every election until 2000. I, too, have had my eyes opened wide.

This is a great site to learn from. There are such a wide range of people here you can get a variety of viewpoints.

[deadparrot]

32. Welcome to DU.

Thank you for your service to our country, and thanks for being open-minded in discussing politics. I think most political buffs, left or right, become quite resistant to changing ideas. I'm always up for a good debate with a true conservative. :)

Whther you're conservative or liberal, NO American should be allowing these people to take over our country.

Anyhoo, welcome!!

:party: :toast: :bounce:

[DU GrovelBot]

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your support.

[psychopomp]

34. This is BUSHIT!!!

Kicking this for those who missed it!

[maddezmom]

35. kick

to combine threads

[seemslikeadream]

36. U.S. stands in way of POWs’ compensation for Iraq torture

Posted on Wed, Feb. 16, 2005





U.S. stands in way of POWs’ compensation for Iraq torture

By David G. Savage

Los Angeles Times


WASHINGTON – The latest chapter in the legal history of torture is being written by U.S. pilots who were beaten and abused by Iraqis during the 1991 Persian Gulf war.

The Bush administration is fighting the former prisoners of war in court, trying to prevent them from collecting nearly $1 billion from Iraq that a federal judge awarded them as compensation for torture at the hands of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

The rationale: Today’s Iraqis are good guys, and they need the money. The case abounds with ironies. It pits the U.S. government against its own war heroes and the Geneva Conventions. Many of the U.S. pilots were tortured in the same Iraqi prison, Abu Ghraib, where U.S. soldiers abused Iraqis 15 months ago.

The Iraqi victims, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said, deserve compensation from the United States. But the U.S. victims of Iraqi torturers are not entitled to payments from Iraq, the U.S. government says.

more
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/nation/10913233.htm

[rodeodance]

37. what a low blow from the Bush cabal!!

[applegrove]

38. Otherwise they will have to pay every single Iraqi still alive for this

War.

Nimrods. ***holes!

[spanone]

39. Headline should read 'Bush* FUCKS our Military Heroes'

Good guys my ass. Support our troops is a SUV magnet to these heartless bastards.

[Djinn]

40. but of Toy R Us can apply for compo

not for having been oppressed for 30 years, or having been tortured or even having had their infrastructure damaged but because they “lost profits” or even just experienced a “decline in business,”

see Naomi Klein's Reparations in Reverse at http://www.nologo.org/

so in other words western corporations CAN and HAVE received compensation for "losses" during the Gulf War, but US soldiers and particularly Iraqi citizens get zip.

Clearly though this case would set an embarrasing precedent - the US refuses to be held accountable for it's atrocious behaviour during "war" so why should anyone else - in fact there's a bigger argument to be made in that the Iraqi people did not vote for Saddam so should not be held responisble for his actions - the American population did vote for Bush Snr and Jnr so they should be held in some way accountable and have to pay collectively for it (I know the Bush Jnr election was dubious but it's not like there's been rioting on the streets over it) as should the citizens of the UK and Australia and all the other COWard nations