Via America’s Lawyer: Mike Papantonio is joined by Farron Cousins, executive editor of The Trial Lawyer magazine, to discuss the complaints coming from many veterans who claim they were duped by the Saudi Arabian government into lobbying for an amendment to the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act.
Transcript of the above video:
Mike Papantonio:
Veterans have come forward to complain that they were used as pawns by the Saudi Arabian government to lobby for an amendment that would limit Saudi government’s responsibility and liability for nearly 3,000 murders that took place on 9/11. The Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, or JASTA, which was passed by Congress in 2016, finally allowed the families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia for the role of Saudi government officials in the attacks. Here to talk about this story is Farron Cousins, executive editor of The Trial Lawyer Magazine. Farron, can you explain how these veterans are being … I mean, they’re being hustled by the Saudi Arabians.
Farron Cousins:
They really are. It’s an interesting story, but what they’ve done, basically, is they’ve tracked money coming from the Saudi Arabian government to PR firms, organizations like that, that then are using that money to hire veterans, telling them, “You need to go to Washington, D.C. We’re going to pay for you to stay there for five days, flights, meals, hotel, everything is included, as long as you go and protest this bill, because what it’s going to do is, it’s going to give governments the ability to sue you. Foreigners are going to have the ability to sue you, Mr. Veteran, because of what you did over in their country as part of the U.S. military.” They’re telling them that they are the ones, the veterans, are the ones who are going to be sued under this legislation.
Mike Papantonio:
Which is a lie. I mean, it’s just fantasy …
Farron Cousins:
Right.
Mike Papantonio:
… story, and the, again, corporate media is not picking this story up to even explain what a lie this is. What’s been the reaction for these veterans once they find out that the Saudi government and the, basically, corporate media that never tells the story, and politicians, have all lied to them about what’s really happening here?
Farron Cousins:
It’s a mix of shock and just outright disgust. These people understand that they were duped, they were lied to, they were sent on these trips. They thought they were doing something positive. They thought they were helping their fellow veterans, future soldiers, to avoid any kind of liability for following the orders of the U.S. …
Mike Papantonio:
Okay, so-
Farron Cousins:
… military, but they were shocked to find out about this.
Mike Papantonio:
3,000 people murdered in the Twin Towers. We know the Saudi connection. You have lawyers that are way down the road, figuring out the Saudi connection. As you know, our firm, full disclosure, we’re working on some of this ourselves, so as we look at this, we find out that the hustle has been to scare these people and say, “You’re in the same shoes as the Saudi government.” I mean, isn’t that kind of what they’re saying here?
Farron Cousins:
It is, and it’s a lot of the same people. You have John McCain, Lindsey Graham, who are trying to make it to where we can’t sue Saudi Arabia, but they’re also, they’re out there telling the soldiers, they’re telling Americans that if we sue them, they’re going to turn around and sue us.
Mike Papantonio:
Yeah.
Farron Cousins:
Which they can already do. I …
Mike Papantonio:
Yeah. There’s nothing different. [Yeah 00:02:55].
Farron Cousins:
… don’t understand anybody buying that argument. They can do that today if they felt like it.
Mike Papantonio:
Yeah.
Farron Cousins:
But these same warmongers are out there pushing this, trying to protect Saudi Arabia, one of the worst human rights abusers on the planet, because they want the oil, and we want to continue to sell them weapons, and we don’t want to do anything that’s going to jeopardize all the money we get from that country.
Mike Papantonio:
Farron Cousins, another great story that we need to talk a lot more about.
