Iran responsible for damages in Beirut bombing

From the AP:

Iran must pay $2.65 billion to the families of the 241 U.S. service members killed in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, a federal judge declared Friday in a ruling that left survivors and families shedding tears of joy.

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth described his ruling as the largest-ever such judgment by an American court against another country. "These individuals, whose hearts and souls were forever broken, waited patiently for nearly a quarter century for justice to be done," he said.

Iran has been blamed for supporting the militant group Hezbollah, which carried out the suicide bombing in Beirut. It was the worst terrorist act against U.S. targets until the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Allahpundit adds:

If this story sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because the very same judge — Royce Lamberth, a Reagan appointee — dropped a $254 million verdict on Iran last year for its role in the Khobar Towers bombing. There’s no way to collect except to seize Iranian assets, which depends upon being able to locate them — no easy feat given the regime’s expertise at hiding them to avoid U.S./UN sanctions on the nuclear program — and then confiscate them per U.S. and international law. The verdict’s largely symbolic, in other words, but only a little less gratifying for that reason, as the boldface part shows.

You can read the court ruling here (PDF). Here's an excerpt:

The nearly one thousand plaintiffs in this consolidated action are many of the family members and estates of the 241 servicemen killed in the attack. Plaintiffs allege that the Islamic Republic of Iran (“Iran”) and the Iranian Ministry of Information and Security (“MOIS”) are liable for damages from the attack because they provided material support and assistance to Hezbollah, the terrorist organization that orchestrated and carried out the bombing. Plaintiffs
have relied upon causes of action founded upon provisions of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (“FSIA”), inter alia, 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(7).

On March 17-18, 2003, this Court conducted a bench trial to determine the defendants’ liability for their part in the perpetration of this attack. After reviewing the evidence presented by plaintiffs at trial, including testimony from lay and expert witnesses, this Court issued an opinion finding that the defendants were legally responsible for providing material financial and logistical support to help carry out this tragic attack on the 241 servicemen in Beirut in 1983. Peterson v Islamic Republic of Iran, 264 F. Supp. 2d 46, 61 (D.D.C. 2003).