His wife was at camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina when she heard the news. Cleta Wells said, "I got up and turned on CNN like I always, do. And it was right there in front of me and I knew he was on the second floor of that building. And you hope and pray, but you already know."
Cleta Wells moved to Mariposa ten years ago to be closer to her son. Memorabilia of Tandy is spread throughout her home including the Purple Heart he received posthumously. "In the evening, when the families are together, there's no one. It's just a part of you is gone," said Wells.
A little bit of justice may come soon for Cleta. Victims' families filed a civil suit in 2001 against Iran. Six years later (September 2007) A U.S. judge ruled against Iran and awarded the victims and their families $2.65 billion dollars.
Iran has been blamed for supporting the militant group hezbollah, which carried out the suicide bombing on the barracks. Iran has rejected the ruling ... Calling it baseless ... But one San Francisco attorney is inching closer to the money.
Attorney David Cook said, "I'm in the collection business, I'm not in the justice business, but in this particular case, justice is money and money is justice."
David Cook may be best known for collecting the debt owed by OJ Simpson to the Goldman family from the civil trial he was able to take the rights of the book, "If I Did It" away from Simpson. Cook was hired in March 2008 to be the lead collection attorney in the United States. But getting $2.65 billion dollars from a country that vowed never to pay requires some creativity.
"They communicated their position; they communicated a position called GPS, now that's not global positioning satellite if you have one in your car, but go pound sand. And that's what they said very politely," said Cook.
That didn't stop Cook. In the federal courts, he made his move.
In San Francisco, he asked for Iran's financial information including money in U.S. banks. In Los Angeles, Cook has claims on what he believes is Iranian oil in the hands of companies Like Royal Dutch Shell, ENI, Nippon and Total.
In Illinois one of the greatest collections of Iranian antiquities at the University of Chicago is now being claimed by Cook, as well as $330-million dollars worth of wheat bought by Iran.
In New York City, Cook is hoping to land a 5th Avenue building he believes was once owned by Iran.
One of the lead attorneys for the families says if all the assets claimed by Cook are liquidated, it could be more than enough to pay off the entire $2.65 billion dollar judgment. "We're confident that sooner or later we're going to reach something. It could be tomorrow, it could be ten years, chasing a sovereign is time consuming," said Cook.
The impact of this case could be important to the political standoff between Iran and the United States. Libya normalized its relationship with the U.S. by taking responsibility for the 1988 Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie and paying money to the victims and their families.
Stanford University's Director of Iranian Studies, Abbas Milani says the judgment could be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations. Milani said, "I think there are several things that both sides can play in the bargaining. This would certainly be one of them."
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad mentioned a possible change in tone with the Obama Administration and was open to talks. President Obama's national security team is also looking at areas to have constructive dialogue. But the judgment still matters to Cleta. Although it won't bring back her husband, she says it would mean Iran had less money to support terrorist acts like the one that took the life of her loved one 25 years ago. "It means the world, it means everything. It would be a closure in some respects. We can say yes, we finally done it. I'm waiting for someone to tell me that," said Wells.
25 years later, Cleta Wells is closer than ever to finally hearing those words.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
abc30 News Links:
Links to other news sections on our website.
- HomePage
- Top Headlines
- Fresno Local News
- State News
- National/World News
- Entertainment News
- Business News
- Politics News
- Sports News
- Health Watch
- Consumer Watch
- Mr. Food
Breaking News Alerts:
Click Here to Sign-Up for Breaking News E-Mail Alerts
Receive Breaking News alerts in your email inbox.
Click Here to Sign-Up for Text Message Alerts
Receive Breaking News alerts right on your cell phone.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
