Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

Interview With Dale Storr, Steve Fennell

Aired April 26, 2003 - 13:14   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Seventeen Americans held as prisoners of war in Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War say they deserve to be paid for their suffering. Last year, they sued the Iraqi government, hoping to be compensated from nearly $2 billion in frozen Iraqi assets, but now the U.S. government wants to use that money to rebuild Iraq.
Joining me now to talk about that is Lieutenant Colonel Dale Storr, a fighter pilot who was held prisoner in Iraq for 33 days. He says he was beaten by his Iraqi captors. And the lawyer representing Storr and 16 other former POWs and their families, Steve Fennel, is an attorney at Steptoe & Johnson.

Colonel Storr, I would like to begin with you, Sir, and if you could, just summarize for us what it is that happened to you during those 33 days of captivity and why you and the other 16 POWs feel that you are entitled to that money?

LT. COL. DALE STORR, FORMER GULF WAR POW: Well, my treatment as a prisoner of war in Iraq was fairly brutal. I think it's fairly representative of what we all went through.

Mine wasn't the worst treatment, but I didn't get the best treatment either. I received daily beatings for the first week I was there, which included just blunt slaps to the face, fists to the face. I was kicked. Used -- they used electrical shocks on me. I had my shoulder dislocated, my nose was broken, my eardrum was perforated. I became violently ill during the interrogations with no access to a bathroom. It was a pretty miserable existence.

We endured starvation. We were held in a military strategic target that was bombed by our coalition forces, one of the most terrifying things I have ever been through in my life. Basically, gross and constant violations of the Geneva Convention which, under a law passed by Congress recently, allows us to sue Iraq for compensation.

KOPPEL: Mr. Fennel, this lawsuit that you all filed last year, you thought that the money was still in the bank, sort of speak. What did the U.S. government do, when, and why?

STEVE FENNELL, POW ATTORNEY: When you mention the U.S. government, you have to separate it between Congress and the administration. Congress last fall passed a law that said, if we receive a judgment under the law where we're suing under, we could go against these frozen assets for payment. Clearly, a statement by Congress that they thought that was an important part of deterrence on the war on terrorism.

Just on the eve of this Gulf War the administration, by executive order, decided to confiscate those assets that had been frozen in bank accounts in this country and put them under the control of the U.S. Treasury for the use of the reconstruction of Iraq.

It's our view that something should have been done to accommodate the lawsuit that we had filed and the gross violations of the Geneva Convention that had occurred in the first Gulf War. Nothing has been done in the 12 years since that war to hold Iraq accountable for what happened. Nothing's been done to try to deter this kind of activity by dictators throughout the world in terms of mistreatment of American POWs.

KOPPEL: So, when a decision like this has been made by the U.S. Treasury, by the Bush administration, what legal recourse do you have, Mr. Fennell? You know, is there any legal precedence for this?

FENNELL: There is no legal precedence for the actual confiscation of the assets. At this point, our recourse is to go to Congress, which has clearly spoken, and seek relief there.

Our other home hope is this -- that the position that the administration has taken, we think is a longstanding position of the State Department and the Treasury Department. They feel that they should have complete discretion over any frozen assets, and they had disagreed with Congress when Congress said something else in the fall.

Our hope is that the president of the United States, the vice president, and the secretary of state were too busy at the time this particular order was issued to have focused on this issue. And we don't believe anybody told them about the pending lawsuit by these American POWs, who were true heroes and paid an enormous price, not only at the time of the torture, but ever since.

And we believe that the highest level officials in the administration will work with Congress to rectify this.

KOPPEL: Colonel Storr, you were a pilot of an A-10 Thunderbolt, and when you disappeared after you were shot down over Kuwait, your family thought that you were dead. Your colleagues, your fellow airmen were -- even had a memorial service for you back at the base in Saudi Arabia.

How would you feel if the money tat you feel you are entitled to given to the new Iraqi government for them to rebuild?

STORR: Well, to be perfectly honest, would feel a little frustrated. I would hope that our country would hold Iraq liable, culpable for the gross mistreatments that we received in direct violation, like we said earlier, of the Geneva Convention. The Convention also states that we can't absolve Iraq of their liability to us. That would also, in itself, violate the convention. So, I would be a little disappointed, a little frustrated that basically we are letting Iraq off of the hook for something that, you know, was a terrible, terrible abuse of us and potentially future POWs. KOPPEL: Well, Colonel Storr, I thank you for coming on a Saturday to share with us your personal experiences after and since you served the United States Military in the Gulf War. And I also want it thank your attorney, Steve Fennell. Thank you very much.

STORR: Thank you.

FENNELL: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired April 26, 2003 - 13:14   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Seventeen Americans held as prisoners of war in Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War say they deserve to be paid for their suffering. Last year, they sued the Iraqi government, hoping to be compensated from nearly $2 billion in frozen Iraqi assets, but now the U.S. government wants to use that money to rebuild Iraq.
Joining me now to talk about that is Lieutenant Colonel Dale Storr, a fighter pilot who was held prisoner in Iraq for 33 days. He says he was beaten by his Iraqi captors. And the lawyer representing Storr and 16 other former POWs and their families, Steve Fennel, is an attorney at Steptoe & Johnson.

Colonel Storr, I would like to begin with you, Sir, and if you could, just summarize for us what it is that happened to you during those 33 days of captivity and why you and the other 16 POWs feel that you are entitled to that money?

LT. COL. DALE STORR, FORMER GULF WAR POW: Well, my treatment as a prisoner of war in Iraq was fairly brutal. I think it's fairly representative of what we all went through.

Mine wasn't the worst treatment, but I didn't get the best treatment either. I received daily beatings for the first week I was there, which included just blunt slaps to the face, fists to the face. I was kicked. Used -- they used electrical shocks on me. I had my shoulder dislocated, my nose was broken, my eardrum was perforated. I became violently ill during the interrogations with no access to a bathroom. It was a pretty miserable existence.

We endured starvation. We were held in a military strategic target that was bombed by our coalition forces, one of the most terrifying things I have ever been through in my life. Basically, gross and constant violations of the Geneva Convention which, under a law passed by Congress recently, allows us to sue Iraq for compensation.

KOPPEL: Mr. Fennel, this lawsuit that you all filed last year, you thought that the money was still in the bank, sort of speak. What did the U.S. government do, when, and why?

STEVE FENNELL, POW ATTORNEY: When you mention the U.S. government, you have to separate it between Congress and the administration. Congress last fall passed a law that said, if we receive a judgment under the law where we're suing under, we could go against these frozen assets for payment. Clearly, a statement by Congress that they thought that was an important part of deterrence on the war on terrorism.

Just on the eve of this Gulf War the administration, by executive order, decided to confiscate those assets that had been frozen in bank accounts in this country and put them under the control of the U.S. Treasury for the use of the reconstruction of Iraq.

It's our view that something should have been done to accommodate the lawsuit that we had filed and the gross violations of the Geneva Convention that had occurred in the first Gulf War. Nothing has been done in the 12 years since that war to hold Iraq accountable for what happened. Nothing's been done to try to deter this kind of activity by dictators throughout the world in terms of mistreatment of American POWs.

KOPPEL: So, when a decision like this has been made by the U.S. Treasury, by the Bush administration, what legal recourse do you have, Mr. Fennell? You know, is there any legal precedence for this?

FENNELL: There is no legal precedence for the actual confiscation of the assets. At this point, our recourse is to go to Congress, which has clearly spoken, and seek relief there.

Our other home hope is this -- that the position that the administration has taken, we think is a longstanding position of the State Department and the Treasury Department. They feel that they should have complete discretion over any frozen assets, and they had disagreed with Congress when Congress said something else in the fall.

Our hope is that the president of the United States, the vice president, and the secretary of state were too busy at the time this particular order was issued to have focused on this issue. And we don't believe anybody told them about the pending lawsuit by these American POWs, who were true heroes and paid an enormous price, not only at the time of the torture, but ever since.

And we believe that the highest level officials in the administration will work with Congress to rectify this.

KOPPEL: Colonel Storr, you were a pilot of an A-10 Thunderbolt, and when you disappeared after you were shot down over Kuwait, your family thought that you were dead. Your colleagues, your fellow airmen were -- even had a memorial service for you back at the base in Saudi Arabia.

How would you feel if the money tat you feel you are entitled to given to the new Iraqi government for them to rebuild?

STORR: Well, to be perfectly honest, would feel a little frustrated. I would hope that our country would hold Iraq liable, culpable for the gross mistreatments that we received in direct violation, like we said earlier, of the Geneva Convention. The Convention also states that we can't absolve Iraq of their liability to us. That would also, in itself, violate the convention. So, I would be a little disappointed, a little frustrated that basically we are letting Iraq off of the hook for something that, you know, was a terrible, terrible abuse of us and potentially future POWs. KOPPEL: Well, Colonel Storr, I thank you for coming on a Saturday to share with us your personal experiences after and since you served the United States Military in the Gulf War. And I also want it thank your attorney, Steve Fennell. Thank you very much.

STORR: Thank you.

FENNELL: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com