Regarding the suits against banks and chemical companies that dealt with the Saddam Hussein regime before Gulf War I (Aug. 25): That actually doesn't sound like a bad theory, if they were actually injured by these chemicals. The manufacturers and banks were clearly negligent in selling them to Saddam -- they knew or ought to have known that he was an evil tyrant who would use them to hurt or kill innocent people. They had no reason to suspect, of course, that those people might be US soldiers, but that shouldn't detract from their liability.
I do see one teeny tiny problem, though - as Michael Fumento has documented, there weren't any actual injuries to US servicemen that are attributable to these chemicals. Gulf War veterans as a class are exactly as healthy as they ought to be, or healthier. So while Kurdish victims of Saddam's gassing may have a case here, US GIs don't. Unfortunately, try telling that to a jury, which has been convinced by the mass media that Gulf War Syndrome is an actual illness, and that Gulf War veterans are dying like flies and suffering strange maladies that science can't explain...
Zev Sero, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Posted by Walter Olson at September 18, 2003 10:57 AMSince when have facts or reality had any bearing on lawsuits?
Posted by: Deoxy at September 19, 2003 09:59 AM