Bush Admin Wins Fight Against US Servicemen Tortured in Iraq

The Supreme Court declined yesterday to consider whether U.S. prisoners of war who say they were tortured during the 1991 Persian Gulf War should collect a $959 million judgment from Iraq.

The justices let stand a lower-court ruling that threw out the lawsuit by 17 former POWs and 37 family members. That ruling, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last year, said Congress never authorized such lawsuits against foreign governments.

The dispute pitted the Bush administration, which argued that the money was needed to rebuild Iraq, against former service members.

The decision by the appellate court "runs roughshod over decades of United States dedication to the laws of war," the National League of POW/MIA Families wrote in a friend-of-the-court filing.