Wednesday, May 18, 2016

U.S. Senate Votes Unanimously To Empower 9/11 Victim Families to Sue Saudis: Obama Vows Veto

 The U.S. Senate voted unanimously yesterday for the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA).

The bill would limit sovereign immunity so as to allow lawsuits against foreign states for injuries, death and damages inside the U.S. stemming from a tort, including  acts of terrorism, committed anywhere by a foreign state or official. It now has to pass the House of Representatives. U.S. president Barack "DroneMan" Obama will veto it, as he insists he will. (He's true to his word when it's doing something bad.) Then the Congress will have to pass it again by at least a two-thirds majority in each chamber for the act to become law. This will enable the families of 9/11 victims to sue the Saudi government in U.S. courts, where so far sovereign immunity has shielded the Saudis from civil liability (and possible imposition of monetary damage awards) for their complicity in the attacks.

We see Obama once again protecting the Bush regime, as he did on the matter of torture. As I explained in my previous essay, dragging into public view the Saudi government role in the 9/11/01 atrocity threatens to pull the submerged role of the fascist Deep State out of the black lagoon where it lies hidden.

Obama of course is also a great friend of the Saudis, authorizing the sale of billions of dollars worth of U.S. weapons to them to wage their war in Yemen. Obama also has the U.S. military aiding the Saudi war effort by providing U.S. aerial tankers to refuel the Saudis' jets, and resupplying the munitions (including cluster bombs) the Saudis are dropping on homes, hospitals, clinics, markets, mosques, and the occasion armed Houthi tribesmen. (Over 3,000 Yemeni civilians have been killed by the Saudi-Gulf-State-U.S. war coalition so far, says the UN.)

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