The Pow's from Iraq I sued Iraq--

The victims of 9/11 sued Hussein's regime.

What would you think if the Iraqi people sued the U.S. Corporations who provided chemicals for genocide in the '80s=or sued the arbiters of the deal--Reagan's estate and Rumsfeld?

Are there some crimes that are so agregious that the corporations should be sued and penalized?

This is a question cropping up in international law circles.

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Nah lets just take em out Fight Club style

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Nations and who sell nuclear triggering mechanisms, etc. ?

This might include the mechanisms the UN inspectors found in Iraq.

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Great question

I believe when a Corporation creates a product that knowingly harms the environment, consumers, workers, and/or violates international fair trade laws, Corporations should be prosecuted (and not the fines as they are now).

An obvious example would be that of the Tobacco Industry, but there are ones such as Monsanto's, Nike, McDonald's, Starbucks, that I think are overlooked for their lack of corporate social responsibilty far too often.

If you want a good read on this topic, get the book "The Corporation" by Joel Bakan or the documentary that accompanies the book
http://www.thecorporation.com/ but if you love your dairy - don't watch it

There's also Fast food nation as well but don't read it if you ever want to eat fast food again.

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Truth is by nature self-evident, as soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear. Gandhi

I'm just curious of what these companies do that is worthy of lawsuits.

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They DID do things in the past worthy of lawsuits. But not anymore. Liberals don't believe people are responsible for themselves. Hence, everything is someone else's fault.

***Warning** some people may find some of this content offensive(or just plain gross)

Monsanto's, the maker of Agent Orange, has created a bovine hormone called RbGH which is injected into cows to increase milk production. Ecologically, its a good idea, as it would reduce the need for land for milk producing cows, however the side effects do not make up for this potential benefit.
Cows that are injected with this hormone develops an inflammation of the udder (which is stressful on the cows) and begin to produce a pus that is not extracted from the milk. Most often Farmers use antibiotics to treat this side effect, which again is not extracted from the milk. Studies have shown that this hormone leads to cancer in humans, not to mention fort those who drink this milk, there's and increase in development of antibiotic resistance amongst bacteria.
Recently, small farmers who do not use hormones have tried to label their milk as hormone free, only to be sued by Monsanto's into oblivian.

Nike for their unfair treatment of their workers overseas. Nike has addressed these issues, but has yet to resolve them. There are still extensive reports of abuse towards their workers, not to mention wages that are only 1/3 of their workers basic personal needs.

McDonald's for food that contains chemicals that cause ill health, hyperactivity in children, as well as kidney failure in some adults. I'm not referring to the claims that "McDonald's makes people fat" argument - only a fool hasn't figured that out. More specifically, as a result of their treatment of chickens and cows before going to slaugther, there's extensive reports of feces , as well as antibiotics, found in the meat that they feed to their consumers.

Starbucks because of their unfair trade coffee. They buy coffee off of impoverished farmers at less than 1/3 of the world market value - usually below the cost it takes the farmers to cultivate the beans. As a result, since 2001 over 300,000 mexican farmers have been forced to leave their land. Starbucks also uses hormone injected milk (so you can read Monsanto's for that one)

I actually don't believe this is a Liberal issue. I am well aware, and believe wholeheartedly, that a corporations primary responsibilty is to its shareholders and to make a profit to the best of their ability. But I do feel that corporations should have some level of social reposibility not to harm the environment or the community in the process.

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Truth is by nature self-evident, as soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear. Gandhi

There are often muliple defendants and a percentage of who caused what harm is often worked out.

Internationally, the U.S. relies on universal jurisdiction to sue for broken treaties etc.

Should those who abet criminals have some liability, even if they are corporations?

What about the companies that aided Saddam in genocide? What about the governments who aided him?

I find these questions interesting, because too often profit is made by leaving real devastation behind--as in the cases you mentioned PI. All good examples.

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If you're interested in this topic I highly recommend the above metioned documentary.

But you're absolutley right about corporations that aided Saddam in genocide, there should be some form of liability on their part.

The problem right now with suing corporations (I hope I explain this accurately) is that under the eyes of the law a corporation is viewed as 'an individual' yet, as most corporations have a board of members, when a corporation breaks a law, it's very difficult to pin it on one person or all of them for that matter. In the example of Enron, they were able to prosecute some of the board members for fraud individually, but in many cases it's very difficult, so the courts or government impose a hefty fine instead. More often then not, however, it is financially more beneficial for a company (such as GM in 2002) to pay the fine and collect the remaining profits then to adhere to the laws.

But on a Positive note - Ben and Jerry's Ice creams excel in corporate social responsibilty - so dig in

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Truth is by nature self-evident, as soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear. Gandhi