NY-Times: Obama Vetoes 9/11 Bill, but Congressional Override Is Expected
A really bad decision. Saudi Arabia and its government officials should be hold accountable for their involvement in 9/11. We shouldn't care whether they are so called "allies" or not. Justice must be done for the victims and their families. So, no, Mr. President, it does not "undermine US interests".
The only good news is that congress is expected to override the veto. Hope this gets done in a bipartisan effort. This isn't something were Republicans and Democrats should fight but work together instead.
Too bad that there is no information how Clinton and Trump view this.
The problem is that if we do this, then we'll open the door for other countries to file lawsuits in their own courts against American companies (and lets be honest, our companies have directly or indirectly gotten plenty of innocent people killed in the Middle East). This bill is one of those ideas that sounds great in theory, but would be a disaster if actually implemented.
I don't see why this is a bad thing either. If a company operates under a foreign jurisdiction they should be subject to that country's laws. Forcing companies to treat people as people is a good thing even if it hurts our GDP.
What happens if the Saudis start demanding that major American companies to pay large enough amounts of money to drive them into bankruptcy after finding them guilty of kangaroo courts on trumped up charges? What happens if they do that and threaten an embargo if we don't find a way to force the companies to pay? What happens if they refuse to sell oil to any American companies until all "fines," "penalties," etc have been paid?
The Saudis are obviously horrible and so are many of the American companies that would be hurt by this, but I really don't think folks who support this idea have thought this through. Yes, it'd feel good for a few months, but then reality would set in. If we really want to stick it to Saudi Arabia (and the bad elements of the Israeli government, for that matter), the best thing we can do is dramatically increase funding for research into alternative energy sources.
That would be our companies' problem for choosing to business under such a climate. Look, I couldn't care less whether we stick it to Saudi Arabia or are best friends with them, but if the 911 families can win in court against the Saudi government, they deserve the opportunity to have that chance.
As for the alternative energy aspect, what we could really do if we cared is subsidize compressed natural gas or electric cars. We could also rewrite our nuclear protocols so we can feasibly build power plants but that has little to do with gasoline. But I don't want to stick it to anyone; people should be held accountable for their actions, not whether or not we like them.
