JASTA Raises the Hopes for a Compensation Shared by Washington’s Victims

It’s curious that the relatives of those 850 deceased and 1,500 wounded in 9/11 attacks have filed a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia in accordance with the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, that the US Congress adopted last year. Those who directly suffered direct consequences of the gravest terrorist attack in the US history accuse the Kingdom of aiding terrorists and demand compensation for the hardships its actions brought to their lives.

This development along with the act itself has marked a new all time low in the bilateral relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia.

On one hand, by bringing this law to the table the United States opens the way for its citizens that were affected by foreign terrorist groups to obtain a considerable financial compensation for the hardship that those states that are sponsoring terrorism have caused them.

On the other hand, it opens a way for foreign citizens to seek compensation if their loved ones fell victims to the so-called War on Terror. Thus, Washington has de jure recognized its obligations to pay compensation for those civilians that passed away as a result of the US army’s actions. This possibility was pointed out last fall was pointed out by the former Obama administration’s spokesman Josh Ernest who pointed out last year that this bill may put the US at “significant risk” since now other countries can adopt a similar law. And even now it’s safe to assume that there’s going to be a long line of those seeking retribution, if we are to remember that in the last decade Washington has invaded numerous sovereign states, killing civilians left and right under the pretext of carrying out a “War on Terror” that was launched by the White House in the aftermath of 9/11 attacks.

Among the first “foreign” applicants for receiving the compensation from the US in the amount of 1 million 185 thousand euros is the family of the Italian Giovanni Lo Porto who fell the victim of US air strikes back in 2015, when American jets hit terrorist positions on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Iraq also seeks compensation for war crimes committed by American military personnel during the occupation of this country. A group of Iraqi activists have already announced their intention to seek compensation from Washington, as it’s been announced by a local TV channel Al-Arabiya. The activists have put a particular stress on the fact that if US citizens now have an opportunity to demand compensation from individuals, as well as foreign states in accordance with JASTA, then Iraqi citizens may as well demand pretty much treatment. Therefore, this group urges the public to investigate the mass murder of Iraqi citizens, the loss of property, as well as cases of torture and other infringements of Iraqi rights by US troops.

As it’s been noted by the British media source Airwars, according to the data this portal collected on US-led air strikes carried out over the past two years, the United States has conducted about 10,000 air strikes in Iraq and about 5,000 in Syria, with more than 50,000 bombs and missiles being dropped and more than a thousand civilians dying as a result of these actions.

The civilian death toll is mounting rapidly in the Raqqa and Mosul operations, with more that 500 civilians falling victims to US air strikes in just a couple of days. And it is quite remarkable that US air strikes with the most outrageous collateral damage numbers started occurring last week, ordered by a new administration sitting in the White House.

So now not only the relatives of thousands of those who innocently perished from the actions of the US military in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya and other countries can present their claims for compensation, but also the states affected by the barbaric American bombings can submit their demands to Washington for the destroyed cities, infrastructure, the chaos and the suffering inflicted upon their respective populations.

If each of the relatives of the civilians killed in the Middle East and Africa due to the careless actions of the US Air Force will be able to receive the compensation from the United States in the amount comparable to that that the family of the Italian Giovanni Lo Porto craves to get (over a million euros), then the flow of refugees from destroyed Middle Eastern countries to Europe will abruptly stop.

And given the fact that the first mass suits in the US are being filed against Saudi Arabia, one can not exclude not only the further deterioration of relations between the United States and the Kingdom, with Riyadh remaining true to its world and selling 750 billion dollars worth of US assets. Otherwise, there’s a chance they will be frozen, or even lost. Nor can we exclude Riyadh’s attempts to “assist” Sunni victims of the US Air Force’s actions in organizing trials and filing lawsuits against the United States.

Martin Berger is a freelance journalist and geopolitical analyst, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”