{"id":30297,"date":"2017-01-25T06:00:46","date_gmt":"2017-01-24T19:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=30297"},"modified":"2018-10-30T17:10:57","modified_gmt":"2018-10-30T06:10:57","slug":"jasta-poison-pill-president-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/jasta-poison-pill-president-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"JASTA: a poison pill for President Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-30298 size-full\" title=\"Image courtesy of Pixabay user WikiImages.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/ground-zero-63035_640.jpg\" alt=\"Image courtesy of Pixabay user WikiImages.\" width=\"640\" height=\"417\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/ground-zero-63035_640.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/ground-zero-63035_640-205x134.jpg 205w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In its dying moments the 114th Congress passed a bill, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/114th-congress\/senate-bill\/2040\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act<\/a>, and then, for the only time in Barack Obama\u2019s presidency,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/powerpost\/wp\/2016\/09\/27\/senate-poised-to-vote-to-override-obamas-veto-of-911-bill\/?utm_term=.1c89bf030a6a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">overrode his veto<\/a>. The legislation negates the international legal principle of \u2018sovereign immunity\u2019 for governments, permitting parties injured by terrorist acts in the United States to sue foreign governments where complicity in an act of terrorism is proven.<\/p>\n<p>That possibility already exists for states officially designated as sponsors of terrorism. Saudi Arabia isn\u2019t one of these. However, the legislation has Riyadh right in the frame for the 9,000 victims (killed and injured), and their families, of the 9\/11 attacks. The bill was passed on the 15th anniversary of that atrocity.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/passjasta.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">9\/11 families\u2019 and survivors\u2019 organisations<\/a> campaigned for JASTA for a long time, conscious of the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/archive\/2003\/08\/2008491330697403.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">US$2.7 billion compensation settlement<\/a>\u00a0in the case brought against Libya\u2019s Gaddafi government for the Lockerbie bombing, which averaged $10 million for each affected family.<\/p>\n<p>JASTA is a disaster. It has massive ramifications for\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/ksamissioneu.net\/en\/jasta-threatens-topple-central-pillar-international-legal-order\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Saudi\u2013American relations<\/a>, including bilateral collaboration in the struggle against fundamentalist terror. There\u2019s also the clear prospect of copycat legislation in other countries aimed at American assets. As the EU delegation in the United States\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/powerpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2016\/09\/EU-on-JASTA.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">argued<\/a>\u00a0in September 2016:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>State immunity is a central pillar of the international legal order. Any derogation from the principle of immunity bears the inherent danger of causing reciprocal action by other states and an erosion of the principle as such. The latter would put a burden on bilateral relations between states as well as the international order as a whole.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>They know whereof they speak. In Belgium in 1999,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/20698931?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a new law<\/a>\u00a0gave its courts jurisdiction for crimes against humanity anywhere in the world. Bush administration officials then had complaints filed against them, prompting a threat from Washington to remove the NATO headquarters from Brussels. The Belgian\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Universal_jurisdiction\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">law was repealed<\/a>\u00a0in 2003.<\/p>\n<p>JASTA was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/05\/18\/us\/politics\/senate-passes-bill-that-would-expose-saudi-arabia-to-legal-jeopardy-over-9-11.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">strongly supported<\/a>\u00a0by Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. But the real driving force was the Republicans in the House and Senate, who were out to embarrass Obama, extracting advantage in the lead-up to November\u2019s elections. Candidate Trump enthusiastically attacked Obama for his subsequently overridden veto. Republican senators even attacked Obama for not doing enough to stop them!<\/p>\n<p>Now the problem is in Trump\u2019s lap.<\/p>\n<p>No evidence of official Saudi collusion in the 9\/11 attacks has emerged in the years since, including in the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/07\/16\/us\/28-pages-saudi-arabia-september-11.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recently published secret parts<\/a>\u00a0of the comprehensive official report on the investigation of the attack. However, pursuit of that claim, and any others yet to be made, could place before the courts comprehensive details of American intelligence collections, putting at risk critical collaboration with American partners in the Middle East and elsewhere. Saudi investment in the United States is around US$800 billion. They\u2019ve\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/04\/16\/world\/middleeast\/saudi-arabia-warns-ofeconomic-fallout-if-congress-passes-9-11-bill.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">threatened to sell up<\/a>\u2014not an easy task. However, they could determine to no longer peg the riyal to the US dollar, which they have done to their cost. As a group of former defence and intelligence leaders\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mei.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/letter_obama_congress_jasta.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote to President Obama and Congress<\/a>: \u2018[The Saudis] have been willing to pay a steep price in the form of declining dollar reserves for the sake of their alliance with the United States.\u2019 If they were to conclude that the peg served no strategic purpose and removed it, \u2018such a development would, of course, directly undermine the dollar in global currency markets\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>More to the point, copycat legislation in other countries would adversely affect the United States, which has more assets spread across the globe. US officials conducting global counterterrorism operations, including drone, air and special forces actions, would be vulnerable once sovereign immunity was removed.<\/p>\n<p>It isn\u2019t easy to see Congress reversing itself. Likewise, it\u2019s not easy to see President Trump, with his well-known proclivity to \u2018double down\u2019 on positions he has taken, do otherwise on this. There\u2019s no real deal here to be had. Whatever one\u2019s thoughts on the Saudi Kingdom, the balance of advantage in the relationship lies heavily with the US. The Saudis have been a strong supporter in the struggle with terror and they\u2019re also a big defence customer of the US. Under Obama, around $50 billion worth of defence equipment was acquired by the Saudis\u2014three times the amount under his predecessor.<\/p>\n<p>The Republicans in Congress, having perceived problems with the legislation,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/politics\/articles\/2016-09-29\/congress-signals-regret-after-overriding-veto-of-saudi-9-11-bill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">undertook to examine the issue<\/a>\u00a0in the new Congress. The JASTA legislation leaves in place a capacity to delay court actions. The administration can intervene to assert that it is trying to resolve the issues involved in litigation, with the relevant government. The stay in proceedings lasts six months and is renewable. That will pit the aggrieved party effectively against their own government. It will be a major impediment to building community trust in government endeavours if the government is effectively arguing against its citizens.<\/p>\n<p>Congress has kicked a massive \u2018own goal\u2019 in an arena where American leadership is crucial. We have personnel in the field in this struggle and we need to raise it with the new administration, and with Congress, at the earliest opportunity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In its dying moments the 114th Congress passed a bill, the\u00a0Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, and then, for the only time in Barack Obama\u2019s presidency,\u00a0overrode his veto. The legislation negates the international legal principle &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":481,"featured_media":30298,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1453,1428,1078,127],"class_list":["post-30297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-1453","tag-donald-trump","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-terrorism"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>JASTA: a poison pill for President Trump | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/jasta-poison-pill-president-trump\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"JASTA: a poison pill for President Trump | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In its dying moments the 114th Congress passed a bill, the\u00a0Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, and then, for the only time in Barack Obama\u2019s presidency,\u00a0overrode his veto. The legislation negates the international legal principle ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/jasta-poison-pill-president-trump\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-24T19:00:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-10-30T06:10:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/ground-zero-63035_640.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"417\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kim Beazley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kim Beazley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI&#039;s analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/jasta-poison-pill-president-trump\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/ground-zero-63035_640.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/ground-zero-63035_640.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":417,\"caption\":\"Image courtesy of Pixabay user WikiImages.\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/jasta-poison-pill-president-trump\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/jasta-poison-pill-president-trump\/\",\"name\":\"JASTA: a poison pill for President Trump | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/jasta-poison-pill-president-trump\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-24T19:00:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-10-30T06:10:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/9191b18fccb25fd9496f9343438fee61\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/jasta-poison-pill-president-trump\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/jasta-poison-pill-president-trump\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/jasta-poison-pill-president-trump\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"JASTA: a poison pill for President Trump\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/9191b18fccb25fd9496f9343438fee61\",\"name\":\"Kim Beazley\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b79f281260b471149d6801eef984a297?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b79f281260b471149d6801eef984a297?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kim Beazley\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/kim-beazley\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"JASTA: a poison pill for President Trump | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/jasta-poison-pill-president-trump\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"JASTA: a poison pill for President Trump | The Strategist","og_description":"In its dying moments the 114th Congress passed a bill, the\u00a0Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, and then, for the only time in Barack Obama\u2019s presidency,\u00a0overrode his veto. The legislation negates the international legal principle ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/jasta-poison-pill-president-trump\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2017-01-24T19:00:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-10-30T06:10:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":417,"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/ground-zero-63035_640.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kim Beazley","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kim Beazley","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/","name":"The Strategist","description":"ASPI&#039;s analysis and commentary site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/jasta-poison-pill-president-trump\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/ground-zero-63035_640.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/ground-zero-63035_640.jpg","width":640,"height":417,"caption":"Image courtesy of Pixabay user WikiImages."},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/jasta-poison-pill-president-trump\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/jasta-poison-pill-president-trump\/","name":"JASTA: a poison pill for President Trump | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/jasta-poison-pill-president-trump\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2017-01-24T19:00:46+00:00","dateModified":"2018-10-30T06:10:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/9191b18fccb25fd9496f9343438fee61"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/jasta-poison-pill-president-trump\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/jasta-poison-pill-president-trump\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/jasta-poison-pill-president-trump\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"JASTA: a poison pill for President Trump"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/9191b18fccb25fd9496f9343438fee61","name":"Kim Beazley","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b79f281260b471149d6801eef984a297?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b79f281260b471149d6801eef984a297?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kim Beazley"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/kim-beazley\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30297"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/481"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30297"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43161,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30297\/revisions\/43161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}