by Smitty
A federal judge has signed a default judgment finding Iran, the Taliban and al Qaeda liable in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Judge George Daniels in Manhattan signed the judgment Thursday, a week after hearing testimony in the 10-year-old case. The signed ruling, which he promised last week, came in a $100 billion lawsuit brought by family members of victims of the attacks. He directed a magistrate judge to preside over remaining issues, including fixing compensatory and punitive damages.
Over at Atlas Shrugs, Pamela Geller reacts:
This was an act of war. Yet Iran has not been punished for its role in the 911 attacks. As this new information contines to emerge, the next President of the United States should remove this murderous regime. That should be a campaign promise.
We can be sure that Obama is going to do nothing about this, except maybe film another obsequious video reaching out to the bloody mullahs.
I’m not as sure as Pamela here. It would be totally in keeping with Obama’s cynical style to look at this judgement and decide that a formal declaration of war is in order, and then commence to clean house. If BHO asked for it, is Boehner going to do anything other than fall in line? Doubt it.
That way, he gets the 5% Saber-Rattling bonus in the polls, with another 10% Strange New Constitutional Respect bonus. Crazy? Sure, but you might find it equally bizarre that Newt Gingrich can’t make the primary ballot in his own state. Go figure.
If Barack Obama thought it would get him re-elected, or win him some substantial benefit, he would declare war on Berkley and Cambridge.
Obama can’t go through a declaration of war process without alienating his base of America-hating leftists. However, I would not put an Election eve attack past him, attempting to gain votes through the natural patriotic reaction.
Our best hope is that our Israeli friends will take care of the situation on their own before Obama gets the chance try it.
Gingrich didn’t qualify for the ballot because he, like Cain, wasn’t serious about running so much as wanting the debate stage as free publicity for book sales and speaking fees. He figured he would be long out of the race by April 1 – heh – and so why bother with the effort?
Like Cain, he was shocked to find himself a contender.
Obama won’t declare war on Iran, but if I was Ahmadinejahd I’d spend the last two months before the election in the deepest, heaviest fortified bunker in Iran.
My usual gut reaction to this kind of talk is that the US won’t be going to war with Iran because nobody in power, or likely to gain power, in the US is that fucking stupid.
Sometimes, however, I lie awake at night worrying that perhaps I am wrong and someone really is that fucking stupid.
We’re already at war with Iran. They declared it in 1979. We haven’t declared it, but we’ve been in a covert war since 2007. Or maybe all of these unexplained explosions, assasinations, computer viruses and missing scientists are just coincidence. BHO won’t openly declare war, only if it’s a response to an overt action.
“Election Eve” in this era of mail in balloting means at least 8 weeks out to achieve maximum effect under this scenario. Possible, but Obambi would have to fight the polls for at least that long. I’m not sure he has that level of stamina.
But, yeah, that’s a valid scenario. It’s more complicated than what you picture, but possible.
See 5etester, below.
Truth. It’s like Osama bin Laden’s fatwa against the West, which predated nearly all of the terrorist attacks generally attributed to Al Qaeda. It took 3,000 dead people to convince Americans how serious OBL was.
I just hope it doesn’t take more deaths to convince people Iran is as serious.
But…..I am not in favor of a conventional war on Iran. We would have very few advantages that we possessed for the Iraq invasion, and even more disadvantages. For example, I doubt that Russia and China would appreciate us declaring war on Iran.
Having said that, there are other options. Like torpedoing any of their warships that present a good target.
A delicate balance to maintain? You betcha. But that’s were 20 years of brinkmanship and appeasement have brought us. Not a good hand, especially considering the nutcases running Iran these days.
If Obama LOSES the election, he’ll start the carrier strikes on Tehran the day before his opponent’s inauguration.
I am pretty sure both parties (I am talking Dems and Republicans) do not want to fight a war right now with Iran. That said, if the Iranians are stupid enough to try to close the Arabian Gulf, I would not be surprised if we blow up their one gasoline refinery (let them beg for gasoline from the Iraqis), all their nuke weapon sites, and sink their ships, and call it a day.
And the response to that would be thanks for the excuse dumb fucks.
And the Arab world? The Arab world would be happy. Even the Shias minorities. No one likes Iran.
Well, yes, the US and Iran have been in varying states of Cold War/ covert war for 30-odd years. I meant balls-out, the real thing.
The US could easily destroy Iran’s one gasoline refinery, and make a mess of their Navy. It might even be possible to get all their nuclear development sites.
But their response would probably be in-kind and disproportionate.
Damn I didn’t even think about that. You might be right.
Nobody ever lost money assuming the worst about Barack Obama…
Well, if he hears any buzzing, he better duck quick!
Blocking the Straits of Hormuz would be a act of war.
…and it would be responded to. Harshly.
I’m not so sure Russia would have a problem with it — they are playing both sides of the table with this one. Either way, there are advantages for them.
Someone should tell Pamela Geller that it is going to be very difficult to collect that judgement against Iran if the place has been laid waste to. Anybody who really cared about the September 11th families would support their efforts to collect against the defendant.