Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Quando si dice la tempestività

Iran responsible for 1983 Marine barracks bombing, judge rules
WASHINGTON (CNN) --Iran is responsible for the 1983 suicide bombing of a
U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed 241 American
servicemen, a U.S. District Court judge ruled Friday.
U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth said the suicide truck bombing was
carried out by the group Hezbollah with the approval and funding of Iran's
senior government officials.
Lamberth ordered that the plaintiffs in the case -- the servicemen wounded
in that bombing and the families of those killed -- have a "right to obtain
judicial relief" from Iran. The judge called the October 23, 1983 bombing
"the most deadly state-sponsored terrorist attack made against United States
citizens before September 11, 2001."
"In the early morning hours of that day, 241 American servicemen were
murdered in their sleep by a suicide bomber," he wrote. "On that day, an
unspeakable horror invaded the lives of those who survived the attack and
the family members whose loved ones had been stolen from them."
The court will determine compensatory damages after reviewing reports
submitted by "special masters" appointed by the court for claims resolution.
Lamberth also wrote in his ruling that he would "take under advisement" the
possibility of awarding punitive damages.
Two separate suits were filed in 2001; Lamberth considered the two together.
Both suits sought claims for wrongful death, battery, assault and
"intentional infliction of emotional distress resulting from state-sponsored
terrorism."
Noting that Iran was served with the lawsuits in 2002 but failed to file any
responses, Lamberth wrote that the court entered default judgments against
the defendants in last December but was required to study the matter further
under federal law regarding lawsuits against other countries.
From the subsequent bench trial, Lamberth concluded that Hezbollah was
formed under the auspices of the Iranian government, was completely reliant
on Iran in 1983 and assisted Iranian Ministry of Information and Security
agents in carrying out the operation.
Hezbollah, or Party of God, is based in Lebanon and has waged a campaign for
18 years against Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon as a self-declared
security zone. Israel withdrew its forces from Lebanon two years ago, but
maintains a heavy military presence on Israel's northern frontier.
Hezbollah is blamed for anti-Western and anti-Israeli terrorist acts dating
from the early 1980s and is on the U.S. State Department's official list of
terrorist organizations.
A key point in determining the plaintiffs' eligibility to recover damages
was the issue of whether the Marines were engaged in combat in their mission
to Lebanon. Lamberth said the bulk of the evidence pointed clearly to a
peacekeeping mission operating on stringent peacetime rules of engagement.
"As pointed out during trial, the (Marines) were more restricted in their
use of force than an ordinary U.S. citizen walking down a street in
Washington, D.C.," the judge wrote.
Lamberth wrote that the court had no power to "heal the pain that has become
a permanent part of the lives" of the family members.
"But the court can take steps that will punish the men who carried out this
unspeakable attack, and in so doing, try to achieve some small measure of
justice for its survivors, and for the family members of the 241 Americans
who never came home," he wrote.
The lawsuit was filed under a 1996 U.S. law that allows Americans to sue
nations that the State Department considers sponsors of terrorism for
damages suffered in terrorist acts.
Several Americans have won judgments against Iran and other countries named
as sponsors of terrorism, but the U.S. government has been reluctant to
seize foreign assets to pay the judgments, fearing international
retaliation, according to a report by The Associated Press.

Press.
Impara l'inglese o prode Namib.
-Stefano