International Claims

By Mauricio J. Tamargo

We are all familiar with the old adage; "the squeaky wheel gets the grease".   Nowhere is that old adage more true than when dealing with the federal government helping Americans with claims against Iraq.  A case in point is the news out of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad last year that an agreement had been reached to compensate Americans terrorized by the regime of Saddam Hussein.

In the period leading up to the first Gulf War, and to a lesser extent after that war, many U.S. citizens and companies suffered injuries caused by the Hussein regime.  In 1991, the U.S. federal government conducted an Iraq Claims Census to determine the universe of parties harmed by the Hussein Iraqi government and the scope of the losses incurred by American citizens.  At that time, the value of these claims rose to seven or eight billion dollars.  This figure could be significantly higher in light of the interest that customarily accumulates, so long as a claim remains outstanding, and is applied to international claims under international law in accordance with established international legal standards.