Although the Antiterrorism Act permanently became a statute in 1991, it wasn't until 2000 that the first lawsuit was filed under it, brought by Strachman in US District Court in Providence. He was surprised to be the first, discovering that when he initially looked up the act. Typically, laws in statute books are followed by cases that interpret or utilize the statutes.
"This one was blank, and we said, 'Maybe this was repealed, maybe we are doing something wrong.' There were just no cases," Strachman says. "And that's basically 53 jurisdictions, federal jurisdictions."
He was arguing on behalf of the Ungar orphans, whose American parents had been shot by fundamentalist terrorists in Israel while driving home from a wedding, probably because the wife was at the wheel. The successful 2005 judgment resulted in significant assets of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority being attached in the United States and abroad.
What does he say to any who suggests that suing terrorists, in what might be called money for lives, is a half measure and not an adequate recourse?
"Well, I don't think suing terrorists is a substitute for states prosecuting and pursuing terrorists," Strachman says. "But when Congress created the antiterrorism act," one of the proponents said terrorist victims should "be able to join the fight against terrorism."
