الأسلحة الكيميائية وحقيقة استخدامها في السودان في منتدى ميديكس للحوار
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Re: محمكمة أمريكية تدين الحكومة السودانية وتحملها تفجير الباخرة العسكرية الامريكية"كول&quo (Re: Deng)
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Federal Judge Says Sudan is to Blame for Deadly USS Cole Bombing Wednesday, March 14, 2007
A federal judge said Wednesday that Sudan is responsible for the bombing of the USS Cole but he needs more time to determine damages for the families of the 17 sailors killed when terrorists bombed the ship in 2000.
"There is substantial evidence in this case presented by the expert testimony that the government of Sudan induced the particular bombing of the Cole by virtue of prior actions of the government of Sudan," U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar said.
The civil trial started Tuesday in which the victims' relatives tried to prove the terrorist attack couldn't have happened without Sudan's support.
• Get complete coverage in FOXNews.com's War on Terror Center.
Doumar said that he would issue a written opinion later to fully explain his ruling. He requested additional paperwork, including tax returns of the sailors killed, to determine the appropriate damages.
"Words can't express the loss my family has gone through," Shalala Swenchonis-Wood, whose brother died, testified Wednesday. "It's not financial, it's not material, it's always the things, the little things you don't see."
Four experts on terrorism, including R. James Woolsey, CIA director from early 1993 to early 1995, also testified in person or by deposition Tuesday to support the families' position that Al Qaeda needed the African nation's help to carry out the attack.
"It would not have been as easy — it might have been possible — but it would not have been as easy," Woolsey said in a videotaped deposition, without Sudan providing economic support, places to train and false documents.
The experts testified that Sudan has given safe haven to Usama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist network since 1991 — long before Yemeni operatives attacked the Cole.
They cited testimony from other trials, a declassified Canadian intelligence report, U.S. State Department reports and their own studies as they testified that Sudan let terrorist training camps operate within its borders and gave Al Qaeda members diplomatic passports so they could travel without scrutiny and diplomatic pouches to ship explosives and weapons without being searched. ________________________________________________ Fox News.com
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Re: محمكمة أمريكية تدين الحكومة السودانية وتحملها تفجير الباخرة العسكرية الامريكية"كول&quo (Re: wesamm)
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/13/national/main...RSSattr=U.S._2562356
USS Cole Lawsuit Against Sudan Begins Families Of 17 Sailors Killed In 2000 Terror Blast Blame Nation For "Enabling The Attack"
NORFOLK, Va., March 13, 2007 ________________________________________ The families are seeking $105 million in damages to be shared by 59 spouses, parents and children of the bombing victims who died aboard the USS Cole Oct. 12, 2000 in Yemen. (AP/National Security News Agency) FAST FACTS The United States has listed Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism since 1993. ________________________________________ WHAT DO YOU THINK? ________________________________________ Go To Comments (AP) More than six years after terrorists bombed the USS Cole, the families of the 17 sailors killed in the blast are heading to court to try to prove the attack could not have happened without the government of Sudan's help.
The families' lawsuit against the African nation was to go to trial Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, where the now-repaired Navy destroyer is based.
"Sudan's material support ... including continuous flow of funding, money, weapons, logistical support, diplomatic passports and religious blessing, was crucial in enabling the attack on the USS Cole," lawyers for the families said in court papers outlining their case.
Sudan's lawyers declined to argue the merits of the case during pretrial hearings. Asked Monday whether Sudan would continue that stand, attorney Carl D. Gray said, "You'll find out tomorrow."
The families' lawyers intend to prove that Sudan has given safe haven to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network since 1991 — long before Yemeni operatives blasted a 40-foot-hole in the side of the Cole in Yemen's port of Aden on Oct. 12, 2000.
They also hope to show that: the operatives were trained at camps Sudan permitted al Qaeda to operate within its borders; Sudan's military provided al Qaeda with at least four crates of weapons and explosives for terrorist activities in Yemen; bin Laden and Sudan's government owned businesses that provided cover for the procurement of explosives, weapons and chemicals; and Sudan gave al Qaeda diplomatic pouches to ship explosives and weapons internationally without being searched.
The plaintiffs contend Sudan's embassy in New York gave logistical assistance to the bombers of the World Trade Center in 1993, but court documents included no details of the allegation.
The United States has listed Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism since 1993.
Andrew C. Hall, an attorney for the families, said he expects the trial to last two to three days, with testimony by six family members and one or two experts. Lawyers also will give the judge depositions by about 50 people, including R. James Woolsey, former CIA director under President Clinton.
The families are seeking $105 million in damages to be shared by 59 spouses, parents and children of the bombing victims.
Potential damages could be reduced, though, to not more than $35 million — U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar has said he is inclined to apply the Death on the High Seas Act, which permits compensation for economic losses but not for pain and suffering.
Sudan had sought to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that too much time had passed between the bombing and the filing of the lawsuit in 2004, but Doumar rejected their request.
Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor who is not connected to the case, said it's important to give the families their day in court. But he wondered whether a victory for them ultimately will help stop terrorism.
"Maybe it will have a tonic effect on other nations and they can think twice" about harboring terrorists, Tobias said. "It's another leverage point. We have diplomacy, force and maybe the rule of another law."
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Families of 17 U.S. sailors killed by al-Qaida suicide bombers that struck the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000 are suing Sudan for its role in the attack. The case was filed in a Norfolk, Va., federal court more than two years ago and opening arguments began Tuesday, the Virginian-Pilot reported. The families are seeking as much as $68 million in punitive damages that would come from Sudanese assets the U.S. government froze. The suit alleges the Oct. 12, 2000, attack on the destroyer was carried out by two Yemeni terrorists trained in Sudan with government facilitation. One of the four attorneys representing the families, Andrew Hall of Miami, said the suit was not just about compensation but a tool to fight terrorism. "If these cases make it prohibitively expensive to a nation, then hopefully that will be the beginning of the end of terrorism," Hall said. Hall and his team have successfully sued other nations, including Libya, Cuba, Iran and Iraq, for permitting terrorist activity to take place, the newspaper said.
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Re: محمكمة أمريكية تدين الحكومة السودانية وتحملها تفجير الباخرة العسكرية الامريكية"كول&quo (Re: ابراهيم على ابراهيم المحامى)
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Judge convinced Sudan involved in Cole attack Damage payments to victims' families still in question
BY BILL GEROUX TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 14, 2007
James Cooper-Hill, an attorney for the families of sailors killed in the USS Cole attack, stops to talk to the media as he arrives at the Federal Court Building in Norfolk. (STEPHEN M. KATZ / Associated Press) NORFOLK -- U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar said today he is convinced that the government of Sudan helped al-Qaida bomb the Norfolk-based destroyer Cole in 2000.
But the judge said that he had not yet figured out how to award damages to family members of the 17 sailors killed in the attack. The judge asked lawyers for the families to provide two years' worth of federal income tax returns and other financial information to help him compute the damages. He did not say when he would decide.
The judge's remarks came at the end of a two-day trial in which many of the family members of the sailors testified about the depth of their shock and sadness over the deaths.
Sandra Francis of Woodland, N.C., whose daughter Lakeina died on the Cole, recalled the family had to hold two funerals because the Navy turned over Lakeina's remains in two parts.
After they had buried her remains in October 2000, Francis said, the Navy six weeks later brought additional remains to the home. There were only enough remains in the second set to fill "a little, tiny baby coffin," she said.
She and the family have not been the same since Lakeina's death, she told U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar. "When she died judge, we all died."
Another witness, Shalala Swenchonis Wood, whose brother Gary died on the Cole, said the family has struggled financially since his death. She said her family has not had a barbecue or gone to a movie since 2000.
Testimony in the lawsuit is expected to conclude today but the judge is not expected to release a verdict immediately.
The families of the Cole dead are suing the East African nation of Sudan, asserting that Sudan helped al-Qaida terrorists bomb the Norfolk-based destroyer Cole in the harbor at Aden, Yemen, on Oct. 12, 2000.
The families of the 17 sailors killed in the attack are seeking $35 million in damages. Subscribe to the Newspaper
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