that was basically the case with libya, who has actually made financial reparations to the victims families, thus setting a precedent for iraq and the USA to follow. the libya thing has been in the news alot lately, and that precedent is probably the reason that iran is suddenly demanding $$$ from the USA. i guess politicians, in their limitless stupidity, failed to grasp that the sword would cut both ways when they forced ghaddafi to pay reparations. and wasn't it a manhattan court that recently made some awards to victims of terrorist attacks? the details of who owed who reparations escape me right now. keep in mind that if this precedent is upheld, ALL of the reagan administration's meddling in the 3rd world (not just iran/iraq) will come back to bite us in the ass, not to mention bosnia/rwanda and others from the clinton administration. reagan/cheney/rumsfeld/reich's meddling will no doubt prove to be the most expensive of all, with all of the iran/iraq bullshit, south american dictators/terrorists, latin american dictators/terrorists, and african dictators/terrorists. there were very few continents that those men didn't destroy. do a search for iran contra and see all of the terrorists that the reagan administration bolstered. if this precedent is upheld, the whole thing could get QUITE expensive for the taxpayers. BUT, then again, the bush regime will probably continue to follow its "OK for us, but NOT OK for you" policies.
I am aware of the Libya payoff. Although last I heard Libya was balking and decided not pay unless the US removed sanctions. That was awhile back so events might of changed. And as I recall it was not the a country or state but a group of individuals sueing Libya. Is their a precedent set that allows a one contry to sue another over the use of weapons by a third party? If so then everyone will go bankrupt from the lawsuits. It appears that as well as jobs we are starting to outsource our penchant for sueing everyone in sight. It's a lawyers dream come true. I wonder how far this will really go.