28 October 1999
Congress Clashes with Administration over Terrorism Victims
(Mulls legislation to allow payments to victims) (1010) By Phillip Kurata Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- Members of the U.S. Senate are sponsoring legislation to force the administration to stop obstructing efforts by victims of state terrorism to receive court-ordered compensation. Nineteen senators from both parties have signed on as co-sponsors of the Justice for Victims of Terrorism bill. The purpose of the legislation is to enable the families of people killed in terrorist attacks, one backed by Iran and the other backed by Cuba, to obtain court-ordered compensation. The payments would be drawn from Cuban and Iranian assets, which the U.S. government has blocked in retaliation for acts of state terrorism. Stephen Flatow has won a $247.4 million award by a U.S. district court for the murder of his daughter, Alisa, by Islamic Jihad in a bomb attack on a bus in the Gaza Strip in 1995. Islamic Jihad, a terrorist organization sponsored by Iran, was found to have been the guilty party. The families of three Cuban Americans killed by Cuban Mig fighters while flying in international air space in 1996 have won a $187.6 million judgment in a U.S. court against the Cuban government. The fourth victim was not a U.S. citizen, disqualifying his relatives from compensation. Armando Alejandre, Carlos Costa, Mario de la Pena and Pablo Morales were members of Brothers to the Rescue, a Florida-based group involved in rescuing Cubans paddling in rafts and inner tubes across the Florida Straits to escape their home island. After the shootdown, Cuban Military Air Control congratulated the Mig pilots for a successful operation. President Clinton expressed outrage and pledged to seek legislation to enable the families to receive compensation from blocked Cuban assets. "I am asking that Congress pass legislation that would provide immediate compensation to the families, something to which they are entitled under international law, out of Cuba's blocked assets here in the United States," Clinton said February 26, 1996. Stephen Flatow and Maggie Khuly Alejandre, Armando Alejandre's sister, say the Clinton administration urged them to bring suit against the Iranian and Cuban governments. Congress passed and the president signed legislation to enable the plaintiffs to receive compensation. But to the astonishment and outrage of Flatow and Khuly, the Clinton administration has taken legal action to prevent them from obtaining the compensation. "The memory of Americans killed by terrorists requires us to continue to protest against administration attempts to stifle our efforts to collect that which has been awarded to us," Flatow said before the Senate Judiciary Committee October 27. Flatow requested the administration to stop "sending lawyers to court at taxpayer expense to defend the interests of state sponsors of terrorism." "No words can possibly explain our shock when we went to court and found U.S. attorneys sitting down at the same table as Cuba's attorneys," Khuly at the same hearing. "How can you explain to a mother who has lost her son, to a wife who has lost her husband, to a daughter who has lost her father, that their own government is taking the murderers' side?" Khuly added. Senator Connie Mack, one of the original sponsors of the bill, said, "The pain of their losses has been compounded by the betrayal of their own government." Deputy Treasury Secretary Stuart Eizenstat says the Justice for Victims of Terrorism bill is fundamentally flawed because it impedes on the ability of the administration to conduct foreign policy. He said if the bill becomes law, it would damage U.S. interests in five ways by: -- undermining "the president's ability to combat international terrorism and other threats to national security by permitting the attachment of blocked property, thereby depriving the United States of a source of leverage, such as was used to gain the release of our citizens held hostage in Iran." -- causing the United States "to violate our obligations to protect diplomatic property of other nations, and would put our own diplomatic property around the world at risk." -- benefiting "one small group of Americans over a far larger group of Americans ... many of whom have waited decades to be compensated by Cuba and Iran for both loss of property and the loss of the lives of their loved ones, and would leave no assets for their claims and others that may follow." -- directing "courts to ignore the separate legal status of states and their agencies and instrumentalities, overturning Supreme Court precedent and basic principles of corporate and international law by making state-owned corporations liable for the debts of the state." Eizenstat said more than 5,900 U.S. citizens have claims against the Cuban government totaling about $6,000 million with interest, dating back to the early 1960's. These cases include wrongful death claims and the Castro government's seizure of homes and businesses from U.S. nationals. "These claimants have waited over 35 years without yet receiving compensation for their losses. This bill will not help them at all," Eizenstat said. Eizenstat said the same situation applies to Iran, which has judgments totaling $65 million arising from three men -- David Jacobsen, Joseph Cicippio, and Frank Reed -- being held hostage in Lebanon. Similar suits against Iran, including one brought by former Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson who was held hostage in Lebanon, are pending in U.S. courts, Eizenstat said. "Satisfaction of the judgments in the Brothers to Rescue and Flatow cases would come at the expense of all other claimants against Cuba and Iran, both past and future. This would be fundamentally unfair," Eizenstat said. Eizenstat recommended that Congress and the administration form a joint commission to study all aspects of the problem and devise ways to help the families receive compensation in a way that is consistent with overall U.S. interests and international obligations. Eizenstat said the proposed commission would be charged to make recommendations within 12 months after its formation. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.)
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