<Dr. Evil> One TRILLION Dollars </Dr. Evil>

[Butch]

$1 trillion lawsuit filed by 9/11 families
August 15, 2002 Posted: 12:30 PM EDT (1630 GMT)

From Alan Dodds Frank
CNNfn

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Acknowledging the odds are against them, relatives of the September 11 attacks filed a 15-count, $1 trillion lawsuit Thursday against the company run by Osama bin Laden's family, Saudi Arabian princes and Sudan.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by more than 600 family members, plus some firefighters and rescue workers.

Calling themselves Families United to Bankrupt Terrorism, the plaintiffs are suing seven international banks; eight Islamic foundations, charities and their subsidiaries; individual terrorist financiers; the Saudi bin Laden Group; three Saudi princes; and the government of Sudan for allegedly bankrolling the terrorist al Qaeda network, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban.

Matt Sellitto, whose 23-year-old son Matthew died at the World Trade Center, told reporters: "His loss is incomprehensible to me. My heart continues to ache and will ache for the rest of my life."

"If the odds are stacked against us, we will beat them," Sellitto said. "And we will pursue this action until justice is served and terrorism is stopped.

"Congress and the president have given us the tools to accomplish this essential goal -- tools that build on the existing justice system which empowers us to have our day in court against those who murdered my son."

Matthew Sellitto worked at the Cantor Fitzgerald brokerage house on the 105th floor of One World Trade Center.

Deena Burnett, whose husband, Tom, was killed on hijacked Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania, expressed optimism about the challenge.

"It's up to us, and I think we can do it," she said. "It's up to us to bankrupt the terrorists and those who finance them so they will never again have the resources to commit such atrocities against the American people as we experienced on September 11."

Burnett's father-in-law, Thomas E. Burnett Sr., who also spoke at the news conference, said the group was "taking unprecedented legal action against those whose money financed the unspeakable evil that occurred on that tragic day."

The Saudi bin Laden Group is the construction company operated in Saudi Arabia by Osama bin Laden's brothers.
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So where does the line get crossed between "doing your part to put an end to terrorism" and "trying to profit from the situation??"

If they ever do get to collect any of this money (Which they won't), I think they should donate it all to charities around the world . . . otherwise, I think they're falling more into the "trying to profit from the situation" camp.

[DoPeY5007]

Originally posted by Butch

If they ever do get to collect any of this money (Which they won't), I think they should donate it all to charities around the world . . . otherwise, I think they're falling more into the "trying to profit from the situation" camp. yeah, I think IF they get money it should go to funds on re-building the world-trade center and other chatitable things

[Memo]

Boohoohoo, we want money. Kill these folks.

[sbp]

Its about time Saudi Arabia and the rest of the terrorist supporters are held to task.

from the link Butch posted:
Acknowledging the odds are against them, relatives of the September 11 attacks filed a 15-count, $1 trillion lawsuit Thursday against the company run by Osama bin Laden's family, Saudi Arabian princes and Sudan.

The US government won't be thrilled about this. First this is going against their Saudi Arabian buddies. Also, the US government has shown reluctance in the past in helping folks who win lawsuits against terrorist supporting countries like Iran to collect the winnings.

Anyone else read that new report about Rand Corporation analyst that said Saudi Arabia is the America's most dangerous enemy? http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020806/ts_nm/saudi_usa_dc_4

"The Saudis are active at every level of the terror chain, from planners to financiers, from cadre to foot-soldier, from ideologist to cheerleader," stated the briefing prepared by Laurent Murawiec, a Rand Corporation analyst, according to the Post.

"Saudi Arabia supports our enemies and attacks our allies," Murawiec was quoted as saying in the briefing.

He also urged the United States to demand that Riyadh stop funding fundamentalist Islamic outlets around the world, stop all anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli statements in the country," the newspaper reported.

The briefing urged U.S. officials to target Saudi oil fields and overseas financial assets if the Saudis refused to comply, according to the Post.

With friends like Saudi Arabia who needs enemies? And talk about living in denial:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/07/29/time.saudis/index.html

People in Saudi Arabia are sick of talking about Sept. 11. they have little interest in examining why 15 of their countrymen hijacked U.S. commercial planes and killed 3,000 civilians; many prefer to believe that the attacks were the work of the CIA or the Mossad, and that the 15 hijackers were unwitting players in someone else's plot.

"They were just bodies," a senior government official says. Spend an evening in Jidda, the hometown of Osama bin Laden, where young Saudis today flock to American chain restaurants and shopping malls to loiter away the stifling summer nights, and you rarely hear bin Laden's name. "They find it silly when people talk about al-Qaeda," says journalist Mohammed al-Kheriji, 28, as he sips a latte at the city's newest Starbucks. "People are worried about their own problems."

But while Saudis remain uninterested--or perhaps they're in a state of denial--in the level of Saudi participation in Sept. 11, the country seethes with open loathing for the U.S. and sympathy for bin Laden's cause. Signs of anti-Western militancy are rife throughout this vast kingdom, from the capital, Riyadh--where in June separate car bombs blew up a British banker outside his home and nearly killed an American expatriate--to Abha, a remote mountain city in the southern province of Asir, where four of the hijackers were raised and locals still celebrate all "the Fifteen," as the group is called. "Their friends are really proud of them," says Ghazi al Gamdhi, 22, a university student. "They think the Fifteen were protecting Islam. Most of the guys here want to become heroes protecting Islam."

[johnnymk]

Unfortunately, everything revolves around oil and poilitical correctness, so I don't foresee anything changing in the future regarding this mess.

[Butch]

Originally posted by sbp
What SBP said . . .

You should read Thomas Friedman's books (From Beirut to Jerusalem, and The Lexus & The Olive Tree + he has a new one coming out in September) and Op-Ed pieces in the NY Times. He's rather liberal, but he's been talking for ages about the Saudi link with terrorism and how they are one of, if not THE, worst enemies we have as far as terrorism goes. He is extremely insightful and very well connected in the region.

Here is a link to his bio http://www.nytimes.com/ref/opinion/FRIEDMAN-BIO.html

And this is a link to his most recent Op-Ed piece, although it is more related to the Israeli/Palestinian issue . . . and bringing some lessons from that to questions about our potential policies with Iraq . . . http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/18/opinion/18FRIE.html