[antiwar-van] Is it time to sue the US for atrocities against Humankind?

[hanna]

Maybe each Iraqi family of the over 100,000 Iraqis who were murdered by the
recent US aggression should sue the US government.
Maybe the families of the 1.5 million Iraqis who perished, including over
half a million Iraqi children, during the sanctions should sue the US.
Maybe the families of tens of thousands of Palestinians should sue the US
government for supplying Israel with the bullets, the tanks, the gunship
helicopters, the fighter jets and the political cover for killing and
murdering Palestinians for the past five decades.
There is still hope. The Empire cannot get away with it anymore because of
the new people's superpower, the peoples all over the world who are
challenging the arrogance and inhumanity of the EMPIRE.  The vanguard for
this challenge is currently represented by the Iraqis, Palestinians and the
Arab resistance.
So is it time to sue the US for atrocities against humankind? The answer is
no it is not, because the EMPIRE's judicial system will always favour the
rich, the powerful and the merciless, and will enshrine the logic of might
is right. By doing so it will further victimise the victims. It is time to
escalate our solidarity and compassion for the victims of the "New World
Order" anywhere and everywhere in the world.

Hanna

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/500026.html

Last Update: 10/11/2004 21:49

U.S. judge finds Islamic charity liable for West Bank shooting

By The Associated Press

CHICAGO - A federal judge Wednesday found two U.S.-based Islamic charities
and an alleged fund-raiser for the Palestinian militant group Hamas liable
for damages in the 1996 shooting death of an American teenager in Israel.

A jury trial is set to start Dec. 1 to determine the amount of damages in
the $300 million lawsuit filed by the parents of David Boim, 17, who was
gunned down while waiting for a bus in the West Bank.

In a 107-page opinion, Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys held Texas-based Holy
Land Foundation and another charity, the Islamic Association for Palestine,
liable for damages in the shooting.

Keys also held Mohammed Salah, a Chicago man currently under indictment in
an alleged Hamas fund-raising conspiracy, liable for damages in the May 13,
1996, shooting.

"This is a huge win for victims of terrorism," said Stephen J. Landes, an
attorney for Stanley and Joyce Boim, former New Yorkers now living in
Jerusalem, who brought the suit on behalf of their son and his estate.

The Boims maintain that the charities funded Hamas and therefore financed
the violence that led to the death of their son.

Landes said the Boim lawsuit was the first to be brought against
institutions based in the United States for allegedly supporting terrorism.
A previous case in Rhode Island was brought against the Hamas organization
itself but not against U.S.-based institutions, he said.

The jury that is expected to determine damages in the case also will be
asked to decide whether another defendant, the Quaranic Literacy Institute,
based in suburban Bridgeview, should be held liable for damages in the Boim
shooting, as well.

The Boims claim that because Salah worked at the institute, which translates
Islamic texts, it provided him with cover for alleged Hamas fund-raising
activities.

An attorney for the institute, John Beal, said the institute was
"disappointed and has maintained all along they have absolutely nothing to
do with the funding of Hamas."

"They have an important function as an Islamic organization and they are
disappointed that they have to continue to defend this case," Beal said.

Messages left for attorneys for the other defendants Wednesday were not
immediately returned.