Libya Seeks Exemption for Its Debt to Victims

[SpikeTss]

Source: New York Times

The Libyan government, once a pariah, and the American oil industry have hired high-profile lobbyists, buttonholed lawmakers and enlisted help from the Bush administration, all in an effort to win an exemption from a law that Congress passed in January that is intended to ensure that victims of terrorist attacks are compensated.

The law allows victims of state-sponsored terrorism to collect court judgments by seizing foreign assets in the United States or money from those governments held by American companies doing business with them. If Libya loses a half-dozen court cases still pending, $3 billion to $6 billion could be at stake, according to lawyers’ estimates

...

Attorneys for victims of the attacks are eager to put pressure on Libya, which they argue has balked at fully paying some settlements and is still fighting over compensation in other cases.

“This really is a test of wills, a test to see if the United States is willing to stand up for American soldiers and others killed and wounded in attacks or for the oil companies and their profits,” said Thomas Fortune Fay, who represents 37 American military service members injured in the bombing of a Berlin disco in 1986. He has used the new law to file liens against 13 corporations in the United States, including ExxonMobil and Occidental Petroleum, whose chief executives visited Colonel Qaddafi in the last year.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/22/washington/22libya.html?ref=africa

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Unbelievable! The victims of the countless terrorist attacks of Libya are again screwed by the Bush administration. This is really beyond the pale!

[Javaman]

1. oil and money, that's what everything boils down to with moron*. nt

[SpikeTss]

2. Especially when you look at the details

For example what Bush's new friends have got to tell about the high oil prices:

http://africa.reuters.com/business/news/usnBAN234045.html

Very little can be done to tame record high oil prices, the head of Libya's National Oil Corporation Shokri Ghanem said on Tuesday.

Prices will have to stay high in the long term to encourage exploration and production," he said, speaking on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum.

We all pay the price for the shady deals Bush is involved in.

[SpikeTss]

3. Here's a small update on this story:

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2008/04/22/big_oil_wants_relief_for_libya/5850/

Big oil wants relief for Libya

Lobbyists for the oil industry say penalizing Libya will hurt the U.S. economy as Libya has the largest oil reserves in North Africa at a fraction of the cost of its Middle East counterparts.

Congress, however, expressed shock that Libya still refused to compensate the families of U.S. victims of terrorism backed by Libya's leader, Moammar Gadhafi, and balked at the exemption, Med Basin Newsline said.