Obama's First Overridden Veto Comes As Congress Pushes 9/11 Victim Bill
NY Times — An overwhelming majority in Congress on Wednesday overturned President Obama’s veto of legislation that would allow families of those killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to sue Saudi Arabia for any role in the plot, the first successful override vote of his presidency.
The 9/11 override is a remarkable yet complicated bipartisan rebuttal, even as some its supporters conceded that they did not fully support the legislation they had just voted for. Mr. Obama and his allies vowed to find a way to tweak the legislation later.
In recent days, Mr. Obama, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter and General Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all wrote letters to Congress warning of the dangers of overriding the veto.
Just real quick here. Of all the politically-charged things I’ve written in my time at Barstool, this bill has generated the most pushback. Lots of tweets, DMs, emails from Stoolies that staunchly disagree with my take. Think my take is dumb. Think my take is lazy. Think I suck. My take being that the right thing to do is to pass this bill and allow the families of the victims of 9/11 to sue Saudi Arabia over its possible (likely) involvement and connection to the terrorists and the plot that killed nearly 3,000 people on September 11th.
I love it. Embrace debate. I always respond to people that reach out to me about the issues, if they do it in a reasonable way (so not always). If you’re out of control and emotional, you’re in no position to have an open-minded, productive discussion. You are not embracing debate, and debate will not embrace you. Neither will I.
This issue is incredibly complicated. The bill essentially strips down law that grants immunity to other countries, “allowing nations to be sued in federal court if they are found to have played any role in terrorist attacks that killed Americans on United States soil.” With the current law, Americans simply cannot sue Saudi Arabia over 9/11. Also with this law, other countries cannot sue the U.S. over our actions (like drone strikes that kill dozens of citizens, for example).
The argument for the bill is — Hey, these fuckers aided terrorists in pulling off the single biggest terrorist attack in the history of the planet, killing thousands of Americans and changing the world forever. How in the literal fuck can you block its victims’ families from seeking justice via legal avenues?
The argument against the bill is this — Hey, the United States does all sorts of controversial, incredibly unpopular shit across the globe, and stripping down this law opens us up to hundreds if not thousands of lawsuits from all over the world over terrible things we’ve done. Saudi Arabia has also threatened to sell off hundreds of billions of dollars of assets to prevent them from being seized in potential court settlements.
That’s the gist of it. Both are obviously understandable cases for any fair-minded person. Dipping into the politics of it, those that side with Obama complain that — in an election year — lawmakers are voting overwhelmingly in favor of the law because supporting 9/11 victim’s families is ALWAYS beneficial in close proximity to elections.
The other political side of the coin is that Obama knows he has OK’d actions in foreign countries that brought significant collateral damage, thus opening the United States up to similar lawsuits from foreign citizens, dragging out lawsuits for decades that will continue to tarnish his legacy and tarnish America’s global image. Makes it difficult to navigate the complicated waters of international diplomacy when all your dirty laundry is being aired out in international court.
I side with Congress. Don’t be afraid of what potentially will come our way. Let the families of the 9/11 victims sue the shit out of Saudi Arabia and expose the fuck out of any and all Saudi Arabian scumbags who aided the terrorists. We should be in favor of seeking justice and owning up to what we’ve done, not in favor of denying justice to prevent conflicts over our global history and decisions.
Congressional representation overwhelmingly agrees, 348 to 77 (not sure if that’s a good thing for me).
Email me if you want to fight (riggs@barstoolsports.com). I’m waiting for you.
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— Nate (@BarstoolNate) September 28, 2016