Is it the principal or the money?

From the LA Times:

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.

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

There are 17 POWs involved, making their take just under $60 million a piece. Who they'd be taking that $60 million apiece from were also victims of the very regime that tortured them. Surely they could come to a more reasonable and compassionate resolution. Is crippling the efforts of the Iraqi people while they recover from Saddam Hussein's reign of terror, and fight his remaining followers really a solution to the problem? These 17 POWs could very conceivably be putting Saddam Hussein back in power by their efforts, if they win.

Posted by Jack Lewis at February 16, 2005 10:09 AM