I wonder what would have happened (and how things might be different) if the Iraqi people had been able to sue the American companies who supplied Hussein with chemical and biological weapons after the genocides there. If it were possible to sue, and if this were the way things were done, then this control may have eliminated some of what we are going through now. The messiness would be in courts, rather than bloodsoaked fields.

I also wonder why we never followed up on the nuclear triggering mechanisms that were sold across international borders to Iraq. Was this story false? I can no longer find it in the archives. I know there was speculation that the companies dealing with Iraq were German or French. I wonder if the real facts were that a multinational that included American interests was behind the sales? Where is Seymour Hersh?

Now the above is simply musings. I have no data here...but the real question is if international lawsuits might provide a measure of reparation and a means to stop future abuses.

We are entering a period where government (all forms) is trancended by corporate rule, and corporate rules are woefully lacking. Could these kinds of lawsuits provide the kind of "checks and balances" necessary for individual freedoms to thrive?

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Those who define have the power. http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/...heney.ssl.html

...lent me a micheal moore movie " the big one" about his book ''Downsize this" (which i also read after the movie.) It is a very good book, and, while you can't take everything in it seriuosly, it does have some good points on this subject.




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"Why check the third lock on the front door when the back door is wide open?" -Orson Scott Card


"Ohh, ADD, what bliss, ahh..err...what was i saying?" -Me

The only proper penalty for corporate crime is execution.

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“Capitalism cannot reform itself; it is doomed to self-destruction. No universal selfishness can bring social good to all.” —Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois

But making sure that the top management pays, instead of the average worker, might last longer than violent punishment. (I fundamentally disagree with violent punishment.)

Perhaps it is time for unions again?

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Those who define have the power. http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/...heney.ssl.html

JOIN THE I.W.W.-ONE BIG UNION FOR ALL WORKERS!

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“Capitalism cannot reform itself; it is doomed to self-destruction. No universal selfishness can bring social good to all.” —Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois

JP5. Do you recall Pfzir sent out pacemakers that cause heartattcks?
And then the tort law was changed and they can't be sued.

Tough regulation, more consumer power, more shareholder power, and more local power is whats required.
The whole lets deregulate everything approach just hasn't worked.
Have you never heard of Enron, Worldcom, Xerox, etc?

Corporations aren't evil. Their amoral.
They're out for the management. (Not the sharehoders as the recent scandals show).
The fact that there was so many lawsuits till tort reform was that there
was more corporate crime not that Americans are frivoulous moochers.

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"Better to die on you feet than live on your knees" - Emilio Zapata