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Originally posted by Not Bob
How about recovering from Bob, the owner of the car that Joe drove? Even though Bob's a nice guy, and he doesn't have the car anymore (your kids and the skink trashed it after they chased Joe into one of the 10,000 lakes)?
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What if Joe stole Bob's car, through no fault of Bob's, and then ran me over? I think that analogy is closer than yours. I doubt that SH was driving Iraq with the knowledge and permission of its owners.
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The fact that any payment made by the Iraqi government means that there will be less money for the Iraqi people doesn't change, regardless (hi, TM!) of whether SH is still in charge or not. Do you think that he would have cut a check from his personal account to pay any judgment? When the US as a tort defendant pays damages, does the president pay from his personal account at Riggs Bank?
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The whole point is that SH essentially held the country hostage through force. There are certain debts (?) incurred by SH that benefitted the people not at all. He's gone, the "Iraqi government" that did the wrong is gone, and there's a common recognition that this was a freeing of a people. And, yes, SH would have written his own personal check - since everything was his, by forceful expropriation.
If these guys are owed anything, (and I think they are - let's not turn this into another "Bilmore hates the injured" theme), they are owed it by us. Our country, in whose service they were hurt. Their torture in no way benefitted the Iraqi common guy.
