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iran...,
2005-03-15 13:02:26
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from the dept. of foregtting afghanistan so we can bomb iran...,
2005-03-15 20:39:19
Judge Jack 'Dioxin Is Delicious!' Weinstein:
about 20 odd years ago there was one of the largest class action suits in the country's history brought by Vietnam veterans against the manufacturers of agent orange for the effects of the herbicide on human health. The case was settled out of court to the tune of $180 million dollars in 1984:
These are the diseases which VA currently presumes resulted from exposure to herbicides like Agent Orange.: [Chloracne, Hodgkin's disease, Multiple myeloma, lymphoma, peripheral neuropathy, Porphyria cutanea tarda, prostate cancer, respiratory cancers, soft-tissue sarcoma]
A just settlement, you might say. Meanwhile, last week in New York some 4 million Vietnamese victims of the same herbicide attempted to bring the same case against the same companies:
U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein threw out the case in New York, saying it had no basis in law and the plaintiffs could not prove that Agent Orange had caused their illnesses, largely because of a lack of research.
"There is no basis for any of the claims of plaintiffs under the domestic law of any nation or state or under any form of international law," he said in a 233-page ruling.
My first impression is that this establishes a pretty firm basis for describing U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein as a racist fuckface, denying crimes against humanity, but I haven't read his 233 page essay on why he decided to throw the case out. He could have just written a note to the clerk, "It is not the position of this Court that the Vietnamese qualify, legally, as human".
Reminds me of that old saying, "In pursuance of its traditional policy, the United States will contribute to healing the wounds of war and to postwar reconstruction". Back in 1973 Nixon pledged a few billion in reconstruction grants in a letter that wasn't made public until 1977, referring to reconstruction aid that - and you can see with Iraq how this has remained a traditional policy we've long persued - was promised but never delivered.
Meanwhile another little kid falls victim to the war.
:: posted by buermann @ 2005-03-15 18:12:10 CST |
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