Posted on 10/16/2001 8:05:58 AM PDT by callisto
Donald Wagner plans to walk into a U.S. district court this morning and seek justice from a foreign enemy, socking a blow to terrorism at the same time.
Wagner's son, Michael Ray Wagner, was a naval intelligence specialist working at the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden truck outside the building in 1984. The deadly force killed Michael Wagner, 30, a North Carolina native, and another American, co-worker Ken Welch.
Wagner and other family members are suing Iran, which they believe supported their son's killer. Wagner's family has asked for $140 million.
Hearings begin this morning in Washington and continue through Wednesday. Wagner's family wants to send a message to would-be terrorists and the countries that sponsor them: Terrorism is expensive.
"I wouldn't be involved if I didn't see an opportunity for positive results," said Wagner, a retired Baptist preacher living in Staley. "The only way we Americans have to say 'Wake up, Iran and terrorists' is to go after their money."
"Even if we can't punish them like they punished us, we can hit them where it hurts," Wagner said. "In the pocketbooks."
Wagner's family members will describe the pain and suffering they have felt since Michael Wagner's death. Two former ambassadors are expected to testify about terrorism activities surrounding Beirut in the 1980s.
Iran has not contested the case and is not expected to send a representative to the hearing.
The lawsuit is possible because of a 1996 law allowing Americans who are victims of terrorism in foreign countries to sue in U.S. courts if the State Department lists those nations as sponsors of terrorism. Iran has been on the list since 1984. Lebanon is not on the list.
Wagner was killed while on duty in Lebanon, but the bomber was a member of Hezbollah, a terrorist group operating in Lebanon that is supported by Iran.
The lawsuit marks the first time an American citizen has sued a foreign country because of an attack on a U.S. embassy, said Stuart Newberger, the Washington-based attorney handling the case.
"When you attack an embassy, you really attack the United States," Newberger said. "Terrorism is cheap to carry out. But if you make it expensive, maybe governments won't sponsor it anymore."
Only a handful of people have sued foreign nations because of terrorist attacks. One victor, Terry Anderson, was a former Middle East correspondent for The Associated Press who was held hostage and tortured for nearly seven years in Beirut.
Anderson and his family were awarded $341 million from an assortment of groups associated with Iran.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, who presided in Anderson's case, will also hear the Wagner lawsuit.
The problem in suing foreign nations comes when it is time to collect, said Scott Silliman, a law professor and executive director of the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security at Duke University School of Law. While U.S. law allows courts to tap into frozen assets to pay plaintiffs, the president can block the move if he thinks it would compromise national security.
"The president certainly can trump a private litigation action," Silliman said.
The Clinton administration had made it difficult for plaintiffs to collect claims in the past, arguing it could violate diplomatic customs. Anderson has received some money, said Newberger, who represented Anderson.
The U.S. government has frozen millions of dollars of Iran's assets over the years.
Wagner said if his lawsuit is successful he would like to pay for four scholarships to Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs. His son studied at the university, and when the younger Wagner died, Donald Wagner used the insurance money to pay for a partial scholarship benefiting a needy student.
Wagner also wants to create a scholarship fund in honor of his wife, Dorothy, who died last year. Wagner is also interested in using the money to promote a philosophy called Agapa which, taken from a Greek word, is based on wanting the best for fellow humans, he said.
"It's a pipe dream," Wagner said, "but if there are sufficient funds, I hope to found an organization that will speak to every race and talk about love."
Wagner said his son volunteered to work in Beirut, saying it would look good on his military record. The blond, blue-eyed petty officer loved the responsibility that came with being in the Navy, his father said.
But Michael Wagner was nervous about living in Beirut. He kept a shotgun and pistol in his heavily locked apartment. Both were always loaded. He also kept a rope ladder handy in case he needed a quick escape out the window.
Despite the tension, the younger Wagner never forgot his love of friends or home, Donald Wagner said.
During one of Donald Wagner's last telephone calls with his son, Michael Wagner told his father that he was planning to throw a barbecue for friends.
"He was always trying to be entertaining," Wagner said. "He was the esprit de corps of the embassy."
A week later, Wagner was killed.
Contact Kerry Hall at 373-7061 or khall@news-record.com
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