Make Iran Pay for Terror

Make Iran pay for aiding terror
September 12,2004
DAILY NEWS STAFF

When the survivors and families of the men slain in the 1983 bombing of the Marine headquarters
building in Beirut, Lebanon, went to court in connection with a lawsuit filed against Iran, they were
collectively awarded about $3 billion.

The hard-fought judgment was assessed against the country that backed the terrorists directly
responsible for the more than 240 deaths that took place when a truck loaded with explosives rammed
into the building filled with sleeping men, most of whom were Marines and sailors stationed at Camp
Lejeune.

After spending years wending its way through the complicated American jurisprudence system, the
plaintiffs - wives, parents and children of those killed as well as some of the blast survivors - won
their case against Iran based upon the fact that U.S. forces were there as peacekeepers, not
aggressors.

But the judgment was mostly symbolic, since there currently is no way to legally attach Iranian capital
held by this country. That's something that needs to change.

The United States government has expressed a desire to hold on to Iranian money in order to use it as
leverage in the arena of world politics.

The funds, which have been frozen, are being used as a bargaining chip to force Iranian compliance in
the U.S. war against terror.

While it's good to seek Iranian cooperation in this matter, it's patently wrong for that cooperation to
come at the expense of innocent victims such as the families who buried their husbands and sons two
decades ago. Nations that fund or support terrorism should be entitled to no rights under U.S. law and
individual claims to reparations resulting from terrorist acts should not be dismissed as secondary to
the government's interests.

America must adopt a zero-tolerance policy with nations that allow terrorists to operate from within
their borders or mount operations using their resources, and that policy should extend to the assets
of those nations.

Iran should be held both morally and financially accountable for its actions.

A nonpartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Congress is designed to right this wrong and provide relief
for the families and survivors of Beirut bombing victims. (See letter to the editor from Stephen M.
Flatow from West Orange, N.J., today.) The bill's a good idea and one worthy of the support of officials
on every level of government.

Twenty-one years have passed since the bombing and still the families of the men killed by those
terrorists await justice. Not a single one of those plaintiffs asked to be placed in that position. They
should be compensated for their loss at the expense of the country that helped write the death
warrant meted out to their sons, fathers, spouses, brothers and friends.