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  • No Money For POWs?

    ************************************
    (Question period with Scott McClellan)

    Q Scott, there are 17 former POWs from the first Gulf War who were tortured and filed suit against the regime of Saddam Hussein. And a judge has ordered that they are entitled to substantial financial damages. What is the administration's position on that? Is it the view of this White House that that money would be better spent rebuilding Iraq rather than going to these former POWs?

    MR. McCLELLAN: I don't know that I view it in those terms, David. I think that the United States -- first of all, the United States condemns in the strongest terms the brutal torture to which these Americans were subjected. They bravely and heroically served our nation and made sacrifices during the Gulf War in 1991, and there is simply no amount of money that can truly compensate these brave men and women for the suffering that they went through at the hands of Saddam Hussein's brutal regime. That's what our view is.

    Q But, so -- but isn't it true that this White House --

    Q They think they're is an --

    Q Excuse me, Helen -- that this White House is standing in the way of them getting those awards, those financial awards, because it views it that money better spent on rebuilding Iraq?

    MR. McCLELLAN: Again, there's simply no amount of money that can truly compensate these brave men and women for the suffering --

    Q Why won't you spell out what your position is?

    MR. McCLELLAN: I'm coming to your question. Believe me, I am. Let me finish. Let me start over again, though. No amount of money can truly compensate these brave men and women for the suffering that they went through at the hands of a very brutal regime, at the hands of Saddam Hussein. It was determined earlier this year by Congress and the administration that those assets were no longer assets of Iraq, but they were resources required for the urgent national security needs of rebuilding Iraq. But again, there is simply no amount of compensation that could ever truly compensate these brave men and women.

    Q Just one more. Why would you stand in the way of at least letting them get some of that money?

    MR. McCLELLAN: I disagree with the way you characterize it.

    Q But if the law that Congress passed entitles them to access frozen assets of the former regime, then why isn't that money, per a judge's order, available to these victims?

    MR. McCLELLAN: That's why I pointed out that that was an issue that was addressed earlier this year. But make no mistake about it, we condemn in the strongest possible terms the torture that these brave individuals went through --

    Q -- you don't think they should get money?

    MR. McCLELLAN: -- at the hands of Saddam Hussein. There is simply no amount of money that can truly compensate those men and women who heroically served --

    Q That's not the issue --

    MR. McCLELLAN: -- who heroically served our nation.

    Q Are you opposed to them getting some of the money?

    MR. McCLELLAN: And, again, I just said that that had been addressed earlier this year.

    Q No, but it hasn't been addressed. They're entitled to the money under the law. The question is, is this administration blocking their effort to access some of that money, and why?

    MR. McCLELLAN: I don't view it that way at all. I view it the way that I stated it, that this issue was --

    Q But you are opposed to them getting the money.

    MR. McCLELLAN: This issue was addressed earlier this year, and we believe that there's simply no amount of money that could truly compensate these brave men and women for what they went through and for the suffering that they went through at the hands of Saddam Hussein --

    Q So no money.

    MR. McCLELLAN: -- and that's my answer.
    *******************************************

    Thank you, Tom Tomorrow.

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  • #2


    "No amount of money could ever compensate them...So let's just not give them any!"
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    Long live teh paranoia smiley!

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    • #3
      Do soldiers get money if the are wounded in battle?
      Monkey!!!

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      • #4
        All part of the job hazards. Wounded or P.O.W.
        Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.
        "Hating America is something best left to Mobius. He is an expert Yank hater.
        He also hates Texans and Australians, he does diversify." ~ Braindead

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        • #5
          Did POWs from WW I, WW II, Korea or Vietnam get paid for their misery and suffering (beyond their usual pay scales)?

          If not, I don't think we should set a precedent and start giving POWs a share of a conquered nation's treasury. What's next? Wounded get in on it, too? Maybe those who weren't physically wounded, but bear mental scars? I don't want to sound callous, but isn't being wounded, killed or becoming a POW a natural risk of being a soldier in a combat zone?

          Gatekeeper
          "I may not agree with what you have to say, but I'll die defending your right to say it." — Voltaire

          "Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart." — Confucius

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          • #6
            We're looking for Saddam they can collect anything he has left after we get through with him.
            I make no bones about my moral support for [terrorist] organizations. - chegitz guevara
            For those who aspire to live in a high cost, high tax, big government place, our nation and the world offers plenty of options. Vermont, Canada and Venezuela all offer you the opportunity to live in the socialist, big government paradise you long for. –Senator Rubio

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Gatekeeper
              Did POWs from WW I, WW II, Korea or Vietnam get paid for their misery and suffering (beyond their usual pay scales)?

              If not, I don't think we should set a precedent and start giving POWs a share of a conquered nation's treasury. What's next? Wounded get in on it, too? Maybe those who weren't physically wounded, but bear mental scars? I don't want to sound callous, but isn't being wounded, killed or becoming a POW a natural risk of being a soldier in a combat zone?

              Gatekeeper
              (a) These are not conquered nation or occupied nation assets. They are assets that have been frozen for years by Executive Order, as part of the sanctions against Iraq. Much of the money seized under these executive orders are personal assets of members of Hussein's family and government. These assets are most likely not provably stolen, so there is no title issue that would automatically make them returnable to any particular party.

              (b) The suit was not for being captured or treated as POW, it was for deliberate, extralegal physical and mental injury inflicted by agents of the Iraqi government. There is no privilege under US law which grants foreign governments or their agents immunity from liability for their illegal or unlawful actions. Why should we create something that amounts to such a privilege on a one-off basis just to screw over these 17 Americans?

              (c) This isn't a case of "getting paid" - it's a case of collecting damages against solvent defendents who deliberately broke the law and caused physaical injury to the plaintiffs.

              (d) Why shouldn't we set a precedent for punishment of wrongdoers in situations like this?
              When all else fails, blame brown people. | Hire a teen, while they still know it all. | Trump-Palin 2016. "You're fired." "I quit."

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              • #8
                D) Like by nuking them.
                Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.
                "Hating America is something best left to Mobius. He is an expert Yank hater.
                He also hates Texans and Australians, he does diversify." ~ Braindead

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                • #9
                  A lot of people in Iraq have at least as much to gain by suing Saddam and Company, but as there is no functional legal system yet in Iraq they can't do so. There won't be enough money to pay off these claims, but by allowing these former PoWs to cash out first they'll get paid at the expense (eventually) of those hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who in many cases suffered much more.
                  He's got the Midas touch.
                  But he touched it too much!
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                  • #10
                    That's never a problem with other litigants, and Iraqis have no basis for suing Saddam in US courts. It's up to a future Iraqi government to decide if/how it wants to compensate Iraqis who were (legally, according to Iraqi law at the time) abused and victimized by the Hussein regime.

                    Meanwhile, this is an existing suit on a totally separate issue, done except for appeals by the US government. And Iraq sits on enough oil that I don't think the Iraqi people will have to worry about running out of money any time soon.
                    When all else fails, blame brown people. | Hire a teen, while they still know it all. | Trump-Palin 2016. "You're fired." "I quit."

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                    • #11
                      MtG:

                      Just to be clear, I'm not advocating in favor of the former government of Saddam Hussein here. I was under the initial impression that these claims were against the general Iraqi treasury. If there's a way to bleed off Hussein's personal fortune, I'm sure as heck not automatically against it.

                      Gatekeeper
                      "I may not agree with what you have to say, but I'll die defending your right to say it." — Voltaire

                      "Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart." — Confucius

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Gatekeeper
                        Just to be clear, I'm not advocating in favor of the former government of Saddam Hussein here. I was under the initial impression that these claims were against the general Iraqi treasury. If there's a way to bleed off Hussein's personal fortune, I'm sure as heck not automatically against it.
                        Iraq is Saddam. Saddam is Iraq.

                        If you take money from Saddam, you are taking it from the Iraqis. I mean, where do you think he got his personal fortune from? Bake Sales?
                        Pentagenesis for Civ III
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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat
                          illegal or unlawful actions
                          Just out of interest, what's the difference between an illegal action and an unlawful one?
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                          Mick102, 102,3 Umeå, Måndagar 20-21

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                          • #14
                            Illegal basically means a specific violation of statutory law, treaty, or regulation.

                            Unlawful also includes actions which are not expressly illegal, but are a general violation of civil law, common law duties, torts, etc.
                            When all else fails, blame brown people. | Hire a teen, while they still know it all. | Trump-Palin 2016. "You're fired." "I quit."

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                            • #15
                              it's late, get some sleep muchacho
                              We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution. - Abraham Lincoln

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