Congress: Override Veto of Saudi 9/11 Bill

[ckaihatsu]

Congress: Override Veto of Saudi 9/11 Bill


Just Foreign Policy


Dear Chris,

Urge Congress to override the President's veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act so 9/11 families can have their day in court against Saudi Arabia.

Take Action (http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=9x9a0rIK85sJXfYOe%2BGgrsXKsQcoX7tB)

On September 23, President Obama vetoed the bipartisan Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act [JASTA], setting up a veto override fight over whether 9/11 families will be allowed to sue the Saudi government over its alleged role in the 9/11 attacks. JASTA, which passed the House and Senate unanimously, makes no claim about the Saudi government's involvement in the attacks. It simply removes the Saudi government's legal immunity from lawsuits concerning terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both support JASTA.

Urge your Senators and Representative to vote to override the veto by signing our petition at MoveOn (http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=cqQTMupgXk8e5F4dT0YwR8XKsQcoX7tB).

Supporters of JASTA have charged that the Administration is simply trying to protect the U.S. government's too-cozy relationship with the Saudi government, which has recently come under long-overdue Congressional scrutiny. On September 21, 27 Senators voted to block a billion dollar arms deal with Saudi Arabia, with many citing Saudi use of U.S. weapons against civilians in the catastrophic Saudi war in Yemen. House Members have introduced a companion bill to disapprove the Saudi arms deal, HJ Res 98. On June 16, 204 Members of the House voted to bar the transfer of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia.

Administration claims that the principle of sovereign immunity is in peril if JASTA becomes law are unserious. There are already exemptions to sovereign immunity in U.S. law, including for terrorism. (We will pass over the Administration's support of the TPP, which would allow brand-name pharmaceutical corporations to sue governments in corporate tribunals to block the introduction of cheaper generic drugs.)

JASTA would simply expand the current terrorism exemption to sovereign immunity of existing U.S. law to countries like Saudi Arabia that are not on the State Department list of state sponsors of terrorism. The State Department list results from opaque determinations that include issues besides terrorism. The Administration wants to maintain the unilateral power of the executive branch to give a government a pass on support of terrorism if the executive branch - especially the Pentagon and the CIA - perceives that government to be useful in other ways. The majority of Americans have no interest in maintaining this unilateral, unaccountable executive power. And if people in other countries want to sue U.S. officials over alleged U.S. support for terrorism in their countries, those families also deserve their day in court. If that prospect might be a deterrent to Pentagon and CIA adventurism overseas, the majority of Americans will shed no tears.

Urge your Senators and Representative to vote to override the President's veto of JASTA by signing and sharing our petition (http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=E7qSqgV6xwiZDHsQsZuFq8XKsQcoX7tB).

Thanks for all you do to help make U.S. foreign policy more just,

Robert Naiman, Avram Reisman, and Sarah Burns
Just Foreign Policy

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[ckaihatsu]

VICTORY! Congress Overrides Veto of Saudi 9/11 Bill


Dear Chris,

Today, a huge bipartisan majority in Congress overrode President Obama's veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act. This law will remove the legal immunity of the Saudi government from lawsuits over the alleged responsibility of Saudi officials for the 9/11 attacks, allowing 9/11 families their day in court against the Saudi government.

Passage of this law will give some measure of justice to the 9/11 families. But also, as the New York Times noted, "The bill’s path reflects a growing desire to re-examine Washington’s alliance with Saudi Arabia, which for decades has been a cornerstone of American foreign policy in the Middle East." That alliance has been a key cause of the catastrophic wars in Yemen and Syria and the difficulty of ending them. It has also been the key reason that, as the New York Times reported in January, the U.S. has been "reluctant to openly criticize Saudi Arabia for its human rights abuses, its treatment of women and its support for the extreme strain of Islam, Wahhabism, that has inspired many of the very terrorist groups the United States is fighting.”

As the Times noted today, "The White House and some lawmakers were already plotting how they could weaken the law in the near future," probably in a lame duck session of Congress after the election, like their plans for the TPP. We will monitor that and work to prevent the law from being weakened.

But right now, we're taking a victory lap. Scoreboard for today: Democracy 1, Empire 0.

Help support our continued work on reforming the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia by making a donation now:

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Thanks for all you do to help make U.S. foreign policy more just,

Robert Naiman, Avram Reisman, and Sarah Burns
Just Foreign Policy

Help support our work!
If you think our work is important, support us with a $15 donation.
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© 2016 Just Foreign Policy

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