You may have heard that the Congress, for the first time in the past 7 years, were able to counter-veto Obama. This is a fine example of they system of checks and balances, with Congress actually working together like it was designed to do, rather than being split along party lines.
The bill in question is called "Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act". It grants US Citizens the power to sue countries if they sponsored acts of terrorism on US soil. The main example of this is Saudi Arabia as they are thought to have sponsored the 9/11 attacks. Also, 15 out of the 19 attackers were Saudi nationals. This bill would give them a way to file lawsuits against a country as an exception to Sovereign Immunity.
Now, this seems like a really good idea. We should punish countries that sponsor terrorism, especially countries like Saudi Arabia who have a terrible human rights record. However, we cannot just ignore the implications of setting such a precedent. This is because by doing this, we are opening a door. And this door is not a one-way door. If we allow our citizens to sue other countries, then we have to inadvertently let their citizens sue us. This is because terrorism has a vague definition. If we want to hold countries responsible for what they have done, we need to accept responsibility for what we have done as a country. And we have done a lot of shit. (This link is just the confirmed things we know have happened.)
Lets start at the beginning. Slavery. Does this mean that all former slaves, as well as their descendants have a right to sue the US government or the States for their deeds? Can they sue the families? What about the Japanese camps that were made during WWII? If that was not horrible, I honestly do not know what was. Because we need to acknowledge what happened. And if it is not terrorism, it is a war crime, which is perhaps worse(We invaded a country for this, remember). What about our many, many efforts to destabilize Iran. That is terrorism, because we did actually destabilize the country, and it led to thousands of deaths. Congo, Guatamala, Brazil, Chile, this is a long list. And this list is all before 1975.
Let us move on to recent history. There was the bombing on the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan. Then the attack on a wedding procession in Yemen. Then the attack on Pakistan Army checkpoint, which killed 24 friendly soldiers. Pakistan ordered US to vacate the Shamsi airbase they had access to in Pakistan, which drove up costs. They also cut off NATO supply lines through Pakistan, which led to a shortage in supplies. Then they did the same thing in Afghanistan. All of this happened in areas where there were no targets anywhere. And let's not forget US planes bombing villages instead of ISIS fighters in Syria.
All of this was brushed off because it was either in a war zone or US claimed immunity while blood money was paid in secret. That does not make this okay. Just as it does not make what Saudi Arabia did(no matter how much they deny it) okay.
But Congress knows all of this. So why pass this law? Well, it is election year. Also, they know they can pass future legislature to make this law worthless. But in the meantime, we need to contemplate. We can cry for justice as much as we want. We need to be prepared to dish some out too.
