Can We Sue Germany for WWII?

[InquiringMind]

So apparently 9/11 victims can sue Saudi Arabia for the terrorist attacks now that the US Congress has overridden Obama's veto of the bill that would allow such lawsuits.  

My first question is, how would such a lawsuit be enforced?  Let's say you did sue Saudi Arabia (in a US court, which is what the bill allows you to do) and you were awarded $3.4 million in damages.  Who is going to force Saudi Arabia to pay up?   What if they say they're not going to pay?  Who is going to enforce that?  If they don't pay, are we going to bomb them, at which point they would sue us for wrongful military action?

Secondly, this opens up a Pandora's Box of lawsuits for all kinds of historical grievances.  Can we sue Germany for WWII?  Can Japan sue us for nuking them on the grounds that the nuke may not have been absolutely necessary?  Can countries that experience civilian deaths from errant US drone strikes sue us?  

This seems to create a lot of problems.  What do you think?

[vorlon13]

Supposedly our CIA cannot connect the upper levels of the Saudi government to 9/11.

Without a smoking gun of that caliber, I'm thinking the lawsuit(s) are doomed.


. . as much as I'd like to see the duplicitous Saudi fucks held accountable.

[Aoi Magi]

hmm, can I sue humanity for well documented historical acts of utter stupidity... or at least sue murica for letting the two current presidential candidates exist?

[Minimalist]

This seems to create a lot of problems.  What do you think?

Asinine legislation.

Wait until some bunch of scumbags sue us and then listen to those congressional scumbags whine about it.

[InquiringMind]

It would seem that any monetary awards would be unenforceable. Who is going to make the Saudis pay?

I also can't figure out what the political motivation for the bill was. I can only think of two things:

1) Lobbying from defense contractors (like Lockheed Martin) who want to start a war to increase their profitability

2) Congress trying to appear compassionate and benevolent just before an election

Wars are very profitable for defense contractors, and I think that defense industry lobbyists were behind the "47 senators" fiasco that happened a little while back. But would they try to start a war this way?

[Alex K]

Concerning the title, that matter has been settled as far as reparations etc. are concerned. I believe individuals can still sue, but not for starting the war prer se

[Minimalist]

I also can't figure out what the political motivation for the bill was.

Which of these gutless pukes wants to hand their opponent that kind of an issue less than two months before the election.

"MY OPPONENT VOTED FOR SAUDI OIL SHEIKS AND AGAINST POOR 9-11 VICTIM's FAMILIES!"

Yeah.  Sure.

[thesummerqueen]

The only way I could see that working with any sort of common sense, is if you were suing people directly responsible. Instead, we've been bombing the shit out of the entire area.

We have precious few WWII vets in any of the participating countries as it is. It makes no sense to sue the generations afterwards who had not a fucking thing to do with that conflict.

I do want to sue American post-war baby boomers for what they've done to this country as they've aged, though.

[GUBU]

So apparently 9/11 victims can sue Saudi Arabia for the terrorist attacks now that the US Congress has overridden Obama's veto of the bill that would allow such lawsuits.  

My first question is, how would such a lawsuit be enforced?  Let's say you did sue Saudi Arabia (in a US court, which is what the bill allows you to do) and you were awarded $3.4 million in damages.  Who is going to force Saudi Arabia to pay up?   What if they say they're not going to pay?  Who is going to enforce that?  If they don't pay, are we going to bomb them, at which point they would sue us for wrongful military action?

Secondly, this opens up a Pandora's Box of lawsuits for all kinds of historical grievances.  Can we sue Germany for WWII?  Can Japan sue us for nuking them on the grounds that the nuke may not have been absolutely necessary?  Can countries that experience civilian deaths from errant US drone strikes sue us?  

This seems to create a lot of problems.  What do you think?

Germany paid $23bn in reparations after WW2, so probably no. German companies, however have been forced to reparations to people used as slave labour or their relatives (if they died).

[abaris]

Also, there would be kind of a queue in suing Germany. The USA would be pretty much at the end of the line as far as damages go. Maybe second to last to Brazil.