Iran Fined $2.65B For 1983 Bombing

Judge Awards Families Of U.S. Service Members Killed In Attack On Marine Barracks In Beirut

(AP)  Iran must pay $2.65 billion to the families of the 241 U.S. service members killed in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, a federal judge declared Friday in a ruling that left survivors and families shedding tears of joy.

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth described his ruling as the largest-ever such judgment by an American court against another country. "These individuals, whose hearts and souls were forever broken, waited patiently for nearly a quarter century for justice to be done," he said.

Iran has been blamed for supporting the militant group Hezbollah, which carried out the suicide bombing in Beirut. It was the worst terrorist act against U.S. targets until the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Hundreds of people crowded into a federal courtroom to hear Friday's ruling. Parents have grown old since their children were killed. Siblings have grown into middle-age. Children have married and started families of their own.

Weeping spectators stood and erupted in applause and hugs as Lamberth left the bench.

The ruling allows nearly 1,000 family members and a handful of survivors to try to collect Iranian assets from various sources around the world. Finding and seizing that money will be difficult, however, and the families are backing a law in Congress that would make it easier for terrorism victims and their families to do so.

Families were encouraged by Libya's decision to ultimately accept responsibility for the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over Scotland. The country, once a pariah by Washington's view, agreed to compensate the families of the 270 victims. Part of the $2.7 billion has been paid. A final $2 million installment to each family is outstanding.

"This is a sense of victory, of winning a battle," said Paul Rivers, who was a 20-year-old enlisted Marine on the second floor of the barracks when it exploded. "When we win the war is when we collect, when we make them pay for what they did."

Iran has denied responsibility for the attack. The nation did not respond to the 6-year-old lawsuit and was represented only by an empty table.

Family members said they hoped Friday's ruling would pressure foreign governments not to sponsor terrorism. Lynn Smith Derbyshire, whose brother, Vincent Smith, was killed in the attack, said countries won't stop until "it begins to actually cost them money to kill Americans."

Some disagreed about whether that will happen. Roxanne Garcia-Bates, who was 16 when her brother, Randy Garcia, was killed, said she was surprised to find a sense of comfort being with the other families in court. She said she was pleased that Lamberth had made such a strong statement, but doubted that Iran would change anytime soon.

"You can't take enough money away to get them to stop what they're doing," she said.

All agreed that emotions remain raw to this day.

Rivers described being one of the second floor's five survivors. All but him lost arms or legs, he said. He was buried in the rubble for two hours, he said. Debris had punctured his eardrum and "I literally had rocks inside my head."

Shirley Murry of Baltimore, who was 16 years old at the time, described the tense days of waiting around the television for word of her brother, Ulysses Parker. Today, every time the news carries a story about a fallen soldier or an explosion overseas, she said it's like that first day all over again.

Lamberth said the law "offers a meager attempt to make the surviving members whole." He said he hoped the judgment would alert Iran that terrorism has consequences and help in the families' healing process. Pausing, he added:

"That's all I can do."

[radiob-2009]

Good luck in collecting any money from Iran.

[oakishpines]

'' ... it''s difficult for me to imagine any girl with savage naked men in the family running around telliung everyone to make all the savage naked men disappear, unless she has some personal grievance with such, but how many have such personal grievances and of those that do how may would actionally take such recourse, not many ... and besides, while having the savage naked men disappear today, assuming it can be done, and though it doesn''t gaurantteee that girls will be next, but it does greatly improve the odds that girls will be next, such that there is very little difference in preaching have the men removed and preaching have the girls removed ... and i just don''t see that as a real and serious and sensible threat to be concerned with ... ''

[zckl]

You''re kidding right? Maybe they should then fine us for the shooting down of their commercial airliner back in 1988 which claimed the lives of 290 civilians of which 66 were children.

[hypnotoad72]

Much with OJ Simpson''s little trial, does anyone think Iran will pay up (or find the ''real killers'')?

[swwils]

Your kidding right!Fined Iran wonder if they will pay that fine,NOT!Just send them a letter of contempt strapped to an IBM and all we be paid,plus we won;t have to worry about President Tom and his theats anymore.

[swwils]

We might have accidentally shot an airplane down of theirs years ago,but what they are doing is no accident.It is straight up terrorism.I say nuke them before they do us or Israel.I don''t care about you cry babies out their either I served 12 yrs in the military and I am sick of these countries threatening my childrens existence.So if you have never been in combat just keep your computer quiet and let the pros hamdle this *** with the extremist.

[omega39-2009]

Iran, we forgot to mention that we want this paid in Euros, not the worthless paper we''re spreading around.

[cfin5]

Thanks to Jimmy Carters 7.9 billion dollar wire transfer to IK to buy our 444 day long held hostages back in ''79 I believe Iran is the central instigator for terrorism in the world with russian and chinese puppet strings attached. I also would not hold my breath for president Ahmadeadnutjob to hand out any checks. My condolences to the victims and their families.

[lars008-2009]

it is fascist nazi terrorislam stupid%u2026.

non muslims of the world unite... fight against the tyranny of the fascist nazi terrorslam imperialist empire of the darkside...

I was a fanatic...I know their thinking, says former radical Islamist
By blaming the Government for our actions, those who pushed this "Blair''s bombs" line did our propaganda work for us.
More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=465570&in_page_id=1770

Bless the Beasts and Children
Fascist nazi terrorslam kills every man woman and child in the village again%u2026 typical mo for terrorslam%u2026
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/bless-the-beasts-and-children.htm

Our Prophet commanded us to fight the kaafirs when we are able and to attack them in their homelands and to give them three choices before we enter their lands: either they become Muslim and be like us, sharing our rights and duties; or they pay the jizyah (poll tax) and feel themselves subdued; or they fight, in which case their wealth, women, children and homes become permissible as booty for the Muslims.
http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=13759&ln=eng&txt=before%20islam%20arabia%20pagan

the truth about fascist nazi terrorislam...
http://www.terrorismawareness.org/what-really-happened/

[wolf563]

The U.S. govournment should pay these people and go after IRAN for the money . If they refuse to pay destroy thier nuclear facilities .

[cbs_oliver]

It was the first act of airline terrorism in the Americas: on October 6, 1976, 73 died in the bombing of a Cuban passenger plane. Now, one alleged mastermind lives freely in Miami, while another is being held on immigration charges in Texas.

On October 6th, 1976, the Cubana Airlines Flight 455 left Venezuela headed for Cuba. It would never reach its destination. Just minutes into flight after a stopover in Barbados, the plane exploded in mid-air. All 73 passengers were killed.

The main suspect is currently in US custody. But the Bush administration won%u2019t extradite him to Venezuela or Cuba to stand trial. The suspect%u2019s name is Luis Posada Carriles. He%u2019s an anti-Castro Cuban exile with extensive ties to the CIA. Posada was arrested last year after he snuck back into the United States following years of hiding in Latin America. He%u2019s currently being held in a Texas detention center. A federal judge recently ruled that Posada should be freed pending deportation, but U.S. immigration officials said Thursday he%u2019ll remain in custody.

Cuba has accused the Bush administration of having a double standard on prosecuting terrorists.

Of course there are many other cases of US government involvement in terrorism and murder.

Those who are directly responsible and all those who supported them should now be open for prosecution. The list of those to be prosecuted from the US would be simply awsome!

[cbs_oliver]

As an aside I am amazed at the large number of advocates of terror and genocide who post their suggestions for murder to CBS.

I don''t see any difference in moral character between them and terrorists of different nationality or other alliegence.

Surely they can''t imagine that they are followers of Christian values or any other decent values.

[cbs_oliver]

You''''re kidding right? Maybe they should then fine us for the shooting down of their commercial airliner back in 1988 which claimed the lives of 290 civilians of which 66 were children.
Posted by ZCKL at 07:31 AM : Sep 08, 2007

They said that was an accident, but I was never sure the explanantion was valid.

It would have been interesting if someone had followed up on the passenger list to see if it was an assassination with collateral damage or on other recent events to see if it was a *** for tat terror strike.

I''m not sure that would be a safe thing to investigate, though.

[GRPDiver]

You''''''''re kidding right? Maybe they should then fine us for the shooting down of their commercial airliner back in 1988 which claimed the lives of 290 civilians of which 66 were children.
Posted by ZCKL at 07:31 AM : Sep 08, 2007

Pur ignorance of world events. 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.[17] 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.

[v_1618]

YEAH AND MAYBE IRAN HAS TO PAY FOR THE WORLD WAR 1 AND WORLD WAR 2 DEATHS TOO. AND MAYBE FOR THE JFK MURDER TOO.. ANYTHING ELSE ......

[grazinggoat]

at this rate pd almost 11 Million $/head, the Haliburton//Exxon-Mobile/AIPAC/PNAC/GOPS are in Bleak Waters because they instigated this illegal war and should pay to the families the beautiful amount of 3,800 x 11M$ = 41,800,000,000 beautiful dollars. Isn''t that right? Who is going to pay the most of it? yeeaaahhh! the American Public...

[toldyouso21]

Our US Constitution prohibits American courts from having any jurisdiction on breaches of international law. Neither our President, our Congress or Supreme Court can invalidate, rule on or nullify any version of misconduct internationally that is committed on foreign soil. This is why we granted war crimes immunity to Bush domestically, but he and everyone else can still be tried internationally.

Our Constitution says we must bend to the will of the international body or court that has jurisdiction over the actions that occurred.

This is in our Constitution and was ratified in 1797. It has not changed. Since we have no jurisdiction, the judge ruling on an international act is unConstitutional and should not stand--it is a matter for the International courts. Funny how we negate international laws when we break them --but have no qualms about holding others to our laws when things occur internationally. All this to say: Good luck to the families in collecting anything from Iran.

[oakishpines]

'' ... people don''t throw themselves off the backs of dragon to break all their bones for fun, silly ... ''

'' ... how come bi metrosexuals get all the hype and bi swampasexuals get all the strife ... it''s really calous and cruel ... ''

[lars008-2009]

what do you call an ideology that:

kills you if you don''t join it...

http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=82201&ln=eng&txt=islam%20law%20kill%20kaafir

kills you if you leave it...

http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=696&ln=eng&txt=kaafir%20kill

kills you if you don''t do what they tell you to do..

http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=6035&ln=eng&txt=kaafir%20kill

kills you if you speak against it%u2026.

http://islamqa.com/index.php?QR=22809&ln=eng

kills anybody that is not a member of it...

http://www.hauns.com/~DCQu4E5g/koran5.html

still practices slavery

http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=12562&ln=eng&txt=slavery

still practices pagan rituals...

http://answering-islam.org/Silas/pagansources.htm

allows the r a p e of babies and animals...

http://www.homa.org/default.asp?TOCID=2083225445

a. satanic cult???
b. fascist nazi terrorislam???
c. all the above???

Our Prophet commanded us to fight the kaafirs when we are able and to attack them in their homelands and to give them three choices before we enter their lands: either they become Muslim and be like us, sharing our rights and duties; or they pay the jizyah (poll tax) and feel themselves subdued; or they fight, in which case their wealth, women, children and homes become permissible as booty for the Muslims.
http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=13759&ln=eng&txt=before%20islam%20arabia%20pagan

[lars008-2009]

NONE OF US IS FREE UNLESS ALL ARE FREE!

None Of Us Are Free - Lynyrd Skynyrd
http://www.lyrics007.com/Lynyrd%20Skynyrd%20Lyrics/None%20Of%20Us%20Are%20Free%20Lyrics.html

WHY IS IT NOT ONE ISLAMIC COUNTRY GRANTS EQUAL RIGHTS TO NON MUSLIMS?

FASCIST NAZI TERRORISLAM SAYS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATES ISLAM LAW...

Universal Declaration of Human Rights
http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

For example, in 1981, the Iranian representative to the United Nations, Said Rajaie-Khorassani, articulated the position of his country regarding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by saying that the UDHR was "a secular understanding of the Judeo-Christian tradition", which could not be implemented by Muslims without trespassing the Islamic law.

http://www.un.org/terrorism/
http://www.un.org/terrorism/strategy-counter-terrorism.html
http://www.un.org/

But the accepted assumption in India is that most of India''s Muslims were converted to Islam through the sword. Meaning the Indians were given an option between death or adopting Islam. The third option was getting examined in Islam religion along with heavy taxes- Jeziya (poll tax) and Kharaj (property tax).

http://adaniel.tripod.com/Islam.htm

this is what fascist nazi islam calls peace....

are you ready to live under islam rule as a non muslim???

apartheid fascist nazi islamic style

Rights of Non-Muslims in an Islamic State
http://www.sullivan-county.com/id3/islamic_state.htm