EXCLUSIVE: Veterans Say Organizers Concealed Saudi Sponsorship of Their Trip to DC to Lobby for Changes to 9/11 Lawsuit Legislation
“The Evidence Was Overwhelming That We Were Being Used As Pawns,” Says Iraq Vet
Lobbyists May Be Planning to Kill 9/11 Suits Against Kingdom by Restricting Lawyers’ Compensation
Senior Leader of Military Order of the Purple Heart Working for Saudi Lobbyists for $100,000 Fee
Three veterans who were flown to Washington as part of a Saudi-sponsored campaign to lobby for changes to the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) say organizers of the event concealed the Saudi role in the initiative.
Enacted in September 2016 over President Obama’s veto, JASTA altered the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act in a way that cleared the path for 9/11 families and survivors to sue the kingdom for its alleged support of the hijackers.
Earlier this month, The Daily Caller and Politico were first to report that Qorvis MSLGROUP, the public relations giant that works on behalf of Saudi Arabia, has been organizing veterans to travel to Washington at no expense to lobby against JASTA. The veterans initiative is part of a much broader Saudi campaign against the law.
The central argument motivating veterans’ participation—and being used in their lobbying—is that, if other countries reciprocate and pass laws similar to JASTA, individual U.S. service members could be sued in foreign courts. That claim is false, according to William S. Dodge, former counselor on international law at the U.S. State Department and a professor at the University of California, Davis School of Law. (See our detailed analysis of this and related claims.)
In exclusive interviews with 28Pages.org, U.S. Marine Corps and Iraq war veterans David Casler, Tim Cord and Dan Cord shed damning new light on a brazen campaign that turns American veterans into unwitting lobbyists for a kingdom accused of aiding the 9/11 attacks and continuing to support extremism well beyond that day.
