Andrew McCarthy, Iran and whose side is the State Department on?

Ok so then we have a lawsuit against Iran by the surviving family members from the Khobar Bombing. Take it away

Ken Timmerman A magistrate judge in the District Court of Washington, D.C. has dismissed a lawsuit by the survivors and families of victims of the June 25, 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, that sought millions of dollars in damages against the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran

We have a judge who refuses to let the plaintiffs lawyers ask the former head of the FBI pointed questions regarding the bombing. At one point, lawyers for the victims asked Freeh, “Did the FBI learn of the involvement of any foreign government in the attack?” Judge Robinson struck the question, and insisted on directing the questioning herself after that.

We have the 9/11 Commission otherwise known as the omission commission stating that:

In June 1996, an enormous truck bomb detonated in the Khobar Towers residential complex in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, that housed U.S.Air Force personnel. Nineteen Americans were killed, and 372 were wounded.The operation was carried out principally, perhaps exclusively, by Saudi Hezbollah, an organization that had received support from the government of Iran.While the evidence of Iranian involvement is strong, there are also signs that al Qaeda played some role, as yet unknown.

It should be noted that the 9/11 Commission was not given to making ludicrous statements, indeed some strongest criticisms of their final report was they didn’t say enough. Hence the 9/11 Omission Commission moniker. And yet here we find them directly implicating the State of Iran…oops I see a great big hole forming in the meme that State’s no longer support terrorists.

But that is not why I am highlighting this, no siree bob. The reason I am highlighting this action by this judge is to ask you gentle reader to guess which side of this debate the State Department came down on? Given the President’s marvelous and forgotten speech of September 20, 2001 3, remember the one where he directly calls out States who sponsor terror:

And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.

You might think you know the answer. Realizing that the President is supposed to be in control of the State Department and that Sec of State Condi Rice is often mentioned as a candidate for President, you might think the answer would make sense. You would be wrong.

The State Department filed an amicus brief in the case … on behalf of Iran, urging dismissal of the suit.

Ok I am not pissed after all it is becoming more and more evident that the world is upside down. But my god these folks looking for satisfaction from the Iranians are the surviving members of people who served our country as US Servicemen and women. You would think that taking the side of the folks who killed them might strike even someone as dense as President Bush as plain dumb. We both would be wrong…goddamnit. Getting sick of being wrong with this President and his administration.

The Corner on National Review Online : “The State Department filed an amicus brief in the case … on behalf of Iran, urging dismissal of the suit.”

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