A federal judge Wednesday awarded nearly $104 million in damages to the families of two victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, finding the plaintiffs had provided some evidence that Iraq provided support to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida. Judge Harold Baer outlined the damages against bin Laden, the Taliban and Saddam Hussein and his Iraqi government in a written decision in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Baer said he had concluded that lawyers for the two victims “have shown, albeit barely … that Iraq provided material support to bin Laden and al-Qaida.” The case was being closely watched by lawyers for plaintiffs in other lawsuits filed after the Sept. 11 attacks against Iraq, al-Qaida and others because it was the first to reach the damages phase. James E. Easley, the lawyer who brought the case, said it was unclear how much in frozen Iraqi and al-Qaida assets could be available to satisfy the judgment. To help pay for Iraq’s revival, the Bush administration has started to use roughly $1.7 billion Iraqi funds frozen in 1990. Full Story
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