Pandora's Box

        Many will cheer the veto override of the recent bill allowing the families of 9/11 casualties to sue the Saudis, for whatever tenuous connections a clever lawyer might draw to the terrorists. Some will love it just because it was an action taken against the advice of the Chief Executive. These people will not use reason in that evaluation and will not understand how diametrically wrong they are.

        The precedent established here,  and a very good reason for the President's  veto,  is that  any stipulation that would establish (even if only in the US) the legitimacy of such lawsuits would certainly be grounds for a claim of reciprocity. In other words, victims of the US or its citizens could certainly justify suing the US on the same, or similar grounds. This entire effort was a pathetic play to the grandstand  by a senate concerned only with their reelections, not good judgment.

        Yes, I know , 9/11 was horrible. It was also the first of such  heinous and unfriendly acts to strike us on our home turf. In that we are unique among the world's superpowers. Unfortunately, residents of a number of other nations have not been anywhere near as safe from the US or its agents. Among the nations which would, by this standard, be justified in suing the United States for military offenses against civilians while not at war with that nation are the following:

        Laos: 30,000 civilians killed by US bombs, another 20,000 in the following years due to unexploded ordnance. We were never at war with Laos.

       Cambodia: same situation, at least 3,000 civilian dead from bombs.

      Afghanistan: over 26,000 non-combatant civilians killed by US military actions.

       Iraq: tens of thousands of civilians by bombs, at least 26 by Blackwater "security" forces, of whom 14 have been convicted of the crimes.

      Syria: Hundreds killed in misaimed drone strikes.

       By establishing the legitimacy of lawsuits based on allegations of terrorist military aggression aided by the Saudis,  we have opened Pandora's box. What the US did in Laos and elsewhere was state sponsored terrorism.