September 11th families file $1 trillion lawsuit

Former Member

600 families and emergency workers affected by the September 11th terrorist attacks have filed a trillion dollar lawsuit against the Republic of the Sudan, three Saudi-Arab Princes, seven Islamic banks and numerous Islamic charities who they claim helped bankroll al-Qaeda, making the attacks possible.

They hope to bankrupt those they are suing, or at least make it no longer worth their while to finance the terrorists.

<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2196045.stm">Full story here</a>

What are your opinions? Is it the right thing to do? Do you think it could possibly ever work? Are they greedy?

Former Member

Re: September 11th families file $1 trillion lawsuit

Originally posted by Vox populi, vox Dei
600 families and emergency workers affected by the September 11th terrorist attacks have filed a trillion dollar lawsuit against the Republic of the Sudan, three Saudi-Arab Princes, seven Islamic banks and numerous Islamic charities who they claim helped bankroll al-Qaeda, making the attacks possible.

They hope to bankrupt those they are suing, or at least make it no longer worth their while to finance the terrorists.

<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2196045.stm">Full story here</a>

What are your opinions? Is it the right thing to do? Do you think it could possibly ever work? Are they greedy?

Not greedy, just silly. It's a ridiculous thing to do. Couldn't possibly ever work. Surely if looked at logically it would open up the opportunity for practically everyone to get sued. So they funded Al Qaeda? Haven't America funded and supplied various regimes around the world which have perpetrated massive crimes such as this? Hasn't Britain?

It's bloody stupid.

Former Member

Stephen Push, who lost his wife in the attack, told the BBC the families had a strong case in the US but that it was a "multi-step process" and they would pursue it in other countries as well.

Well it's not going to bring their loved ones back.

Former Member

Well good luck to them. Although I wish they all receive proper compensation I think there is little chance of getting money from Al Queida. In any case, the whole thing looks a bit silly by asking for 1 trillion . How many bloody zeroes is that? How many billions of billions is that? They might as well have asked for a zillion zillion dollars. :rolleyes: That's more money that most countries on earth will ever possess, let alone a bunch of cave-squatting extremists.

But as I said, good luck to them. They should get at least $1m per person killed.

Former Member

Personally i think this is almost completly pointless.

This is the kind of culture that the terrorist were protesting against.

I am impressed though at how quickly they found groups of people they could sue while maintaining a moral high ground. I for one did not think they could manage that.

Former Member

Ever wonder whos gonna act as the bailiff??

Good ol' uncle sam and the US army

Former Member

I suppose they don't thin they will actually get anything - its just that this avenue is open to them and it keeps it in the news...it's the principle of the thing I guess.

Former Member

What I don't understand is their claim that is deing done to honour the memory of their loved ones.

Honour the memory of your loved ones - with a massive lawsuit. Doesn't really work, does it?

Former Member

Absolutely pointless.


The only point of a lawsuit is to get results. They aren't going to get any here. Seeing as al-Qaeda has hidden their money so well that most of the governments in the world can't find appreciable amounts of it, what makes these people think that having a US court ruling in their favor will do any better?

I can just see the leadership of al-Qaeda, wherever they are, laughing their asses off at how out of touch these people are with reality. "Oh shit, we just got sued! Maybe we should give up!"

Do we really need a court to say that what they did was wrong? No.

Do we really need any more justification to pursue them? No.

Is it going to help catch them or make the people who are pursuing them work harder? No.

The only thing it does is bring more emotion into a political situation and help ensure that people who lost family members in the attacks can't move on as quickly with their lives.

Former Member

Wrong there, it does one important thing, it feeds, clothes and allows the continual existance of lawyers.

Win or loose the case the lawyers will come out winners.

And then they have the money to send their kids to lawyer school so we get more we need to deal with

Really, if you want a good reason to asll be nice to each other, think about the thousands of starving lawyers it will generate.

Thats why i love my fellow man .....

Former Member

Burden of proof.

Three words but a big obstacle.

I was listening to their lawyer on Radio 4 the other day and he was saying that they have to prove taht those sending the money knew it was going to be used for terrorism, yet many of the funding streams are through [apparently] legitimate charities.

Hmm, I sense a easy defence there.

Personally I get the feeling that this is more about lawyers advertising themselves than about Sept 11th.

Former Member

The idea is not to sue a-lqueda, but those that fund it, such as certain Saudi Princes and Muslim Charities. These have billions of dollars invested in the US stock market, deposited in US banks and in the US property market.

If the people suing win, goods, to that value will be seized, and handed over to the victims. Easy.

The lawyers representing these people are the same ones that sued the Tobacco manufactures for million. I wouldn’t write their chances off.

Former Member

Ok yeah what happened on September 11th has devistated and ruined lifes of families in America is terrible and no amount of money would ever cover it but 1 trillion dollars is being stupid!! If they would just forget about the money and face the facts that whats happened has happened and theres no point in bringing up the past and bringing more sadness into peoples lifes in court case upon court case!! :rolleyes:

Former Member

Just a FYI....Now several Saudis have filed lawsuits against the USA for their treatment post Sept 11th. Apparently they had to endure dirty looks and suspicion in the American universities they were studying at. Looks like they were in the US long enough to pick up the compensation culture :rolleyes:

Former Member

Bah, 20 yrs from now all those screaming for war and retaliation on arab countries for the attacks will learn to their shock that the whole affair was planned and executed from start to finish by our own government. They and the military industrial complex are the only ones who had anything to gain from the attacks and are to date the only ones who HAVE gained.

We were fed lies to rally the population to fight the vietnam war and we're being fed more lies now. A real shame that my fellow countrymen dont have the will to turn the spotlight on all the government hasn't told us.

Loony conspiracy theory you say? well I'll let time vindicate my belief and be more than ready to say i told you so when the time comes.

It took a horrendous act to galvanise this level of public support for a presidency that was goin down the tubes before 9/11 and since then its been carte blanche for Mr. Bush. Id say his cronies got just what they planned for.

Former Member

Originally posted by Paul_2
The idea is not to sue a-lqueda, but those that fund it, such as certain Saudi Princes and Muslim Charities. These have billions of dollars invested in the US stock market, deposited in US banks and in the US property market.

If the people suing win, goods, to that value will be seized, and handed over to the victims. Easy.

The lawyers representing these people are the same ones that sued the Tobacco manufactures for million. I wouldn’t write their chances off.

Could never happen.

The US government needs the Saudi and other Arab governments to buy US bonds to finance our debt. They own somewhere in the neighborhood of 300-400 billion dollars worth of bank deposits and Treasury securities.

Fine, go ahead and confiscate the money....they will never put another cent into the US. Banks will sue the US government to recover their lost profits. Interest rates will soar because banks have less money to lend. Already Saudi investors have taken over 100 billion out of the US because of these fears....I would hate to see what would happen to the major US banks and gov't if they took it all out.

And MoK is right. Prove it. I doubt that you could ever prove that one of these charities every said "We need 20 million dollars to fund terrorists groups" while soliciting money. And even if they did, how could you prove it?

Former Member

I don't see the logic behind the action. Suing isn't going to bring back their loved ones, so that defence goes out of the window. It isn't going to help bring justice for the event, and it won't help to prosecute the perpetrators, so what's the use?

Former Member

Possible reasons for suing:

1.It might help punish some of the people who knowingly funded a terrorist organisation (civil courts require a lower standard of proof)

2. It might help prosecute them, as the civil action may well uncover evidence that could be used in their prosecution.

3. Families that lost a bread winner would have a bit more money to live off (after the charity money for Sept 11th has run out). Similarly for people needing medical treatment (including counselling) after the disaster.

In whether they are right or wrong to sue - I can't blame them, after what they've been through, although I do tend to agree that it will be the lawyers that win.

Former Member

Originally posted by Big J
Possible reasons for suing:

1.It might help punish some of the people who knowingly funded a terrorist organisation (civil courts require a lower standard of proof)

2. It might help prosecute them, as the civil action may well uncover evidence that could be used in their prosecution.

You are missing the point.

Both the donors and the recipients of charitiable donatations will never implicate the other because it would implicate themeselves as well. They will keep their mouth shut. Thus, I think you'll find it will be exceedingly hard to meet the preponderance of evidence test in American civil courts.

What good is prosecuting them going to do? These countries have no extradition treaties with the US, and even if they did, there would be no guaranteeing that they would extradited.

This is a worthless effort.

Look at what's at stake here, hundreds of billions of dollars of investments that affect the American governement and economy, versus emotional "messages" from the families of victims toward people that likely can't be proved guilty, or punished.

If this lawsuit was won, how would the US ever get overseas investment? Or is that not as important as this "lawsuit"?

Former Member

I wasn't saying they were right to sue - I was pointing out possible reasons for suing. And I still can't blame those poor people for suing the people they believe had some part to play in the deaths of their loved ones.