What looked to be a new window of detente between the US and Iran,
following the signing of the Joint Comprehensive plan of Action on
Iran's nuclear program has quickly turned opaque. A US decree was issued
to seize $2 billion in assets belonging to the Central Bank of Iran
(CBI), holding Iran financially responsible for the 1983 bombing that
killed 241 Marines at their barracks in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
The funds in question have been blocked since the civilian trial in the
bombing began in 2011, but awaited the final legal touch to bless the
blatant theft. This came when the US Supreme Court recently upheld the
Congress bill, with the approval of President Barack Obama.
This
is truly alarming. It clearly is part of a tactic of goading Iran,
pushing it in an attempt to bring Iran to heel. Either that or to
undermine the deal. Perhaps Obama has had second thoughts about the
deal.
Timeline long and tortuous:
* In 2002, Judge Royce Lamberth entered default against
the defendant (Iran) in a civil suit lodged by victims. In 2003, he
ruled that Iran was legally responsible for providing Hezbollah with
financial and logistical support that helped the suicide bombers carry
out the attack, and thus was guilty. Lamberth concluded that the court
had personal jurisdiction over the defendants under the Foreign
Sovereign Immunities Act, that Hezbollah was formed under the auspices
of the Iranian government and was completely reliant on Iran in 1983,
and that Hezbollah carried out the attack in conjunction with Iran's
Ministry of Information and Security agents. Hezbollah, Iran, and Syria
have continued to deny any involvement in any of the bombings. An
obscure group calling itself "Islamic Jihad" claimed responsibility, and
that the bombings were aimed to get the multinational forces out of
Lebanon.
* In 2007, Lamberth awarded $2.65 billion to the
plaintiffs, an amount he wrote at the time "may be the largest ever
entered by a court of the United States against a foreign nation." The
judgment was divided up among the victims; the largest award was $12
million to Larry Gerlach, who became a quadriplegic as a result of a
broken neck he suffered in the attack.
* In 2008, the $2 billion was secretly ordered frozen.
*
In 2010, victims of the Beirut attack sued the Luxembourg-based
clearing house and bank Clearstream for allegedly assisting Iran to move
$250 million in frozen assets out of the United States, prompting the
open seizure of all Iranian assets at Citibank.
* In 2012, Lambeth
ordered Iran to pay an additional $813m in damages and interest. US
Congress buttressed this decision with a special law that specifically
directed the American bank to turn over its Iranian assets to victims'
families.
* In 2014, Bank Markazi challenged the ruling.
* Now, in 2016 Judge Lamberth got the final word: the US Supreme Court ruled that Congress did not usurp the authority of American courts by passing the 2012 law concerning the 2007 ruling.
The situation is clear: the
US 'justice' system is not objective. The results of the long process
show it serves US political interests over any concern for justice.
Who 'dunnit' Beirut 1983?
The
case revolves around Iran's supposed guilt by association with
Hezbollah, and Hezbollah's supposed perpetration of the 1983 bombing.
Since the bombing was never solved, there is no case here. It is the US
that is guilty in falling short in its security precautions.
Shortly
after the 1983 bombing, President Ronald Reagan appointed a military
fact-finding committee. The commission's report found senior US military
officials responsible for security lapses and blamed the military chain
of command for the disaster. It suggested that there might have been
many fewer deaths if the barracks guards had carried loaded weapons and a
barrier more substantial than the barbed wire the bomber drove over
easily. The commission also noted that the "prevalent view" among U.S.
commanders was that there was a direct link between the navy shelling of
the Muslims at Suq-al-Garb and the truck bomb attack.
When you
are so universally loathed and occupying another country, you should be
very, very careful. Israel knows that well. Former Mossad agent Victor
Ostrovsky, in his 1990 book By Way of Deception, has accused the Mossad
of knowing the specific time and location of the 1983 bombing, but only
gave general information to the Americans of the attack, information
which was worthless. According to Ostrovsky, then Mossad head Nahum
Admoni decided against giving the specific details to the Americans on
the grounds that the Mossad's responsibility was to protect Israel's
interests, not Americans. Ostrovsky further claimed that among the high
level officers of the Mossad there was a view that if the Americans
"wanted to stick their nose into this Lebanon thing, let them pay the
price."
The perpetrators of the bombing are still unknown, but
the US insists it must be Hezbollah and thus, indirectly, Iran. Both
have denied responsibility. Seizing the funds, given the inconclusive
evidence and the security lapses of the occupiers, can only be described
as theft. President Rouhani referred to the US Supreme Court ruling on
seizure of Iran's blocked assets as "a blatant robbery and a major legal
scandal for the US", saying the move is indicative of Washington's
continued hostilities toward the Iranian nation. "They (the Americans)
should be aware that the rights of the Iranian people cannot be violated
and plundered," he said, adding, "No thief can take pride in his theft
and think what he has stolen belongs to him."
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