Former hostage in first Gulf War gets $1.75 million
Compensation from frozen Iraqi funds
LAKE HAVASU CITY, Arizona (AP) -- A former oil worker who went partially blind and suffered nerve damage while being held hostage in Iraq in 1990 has received $1.75 million in damages from Iraqi funds frozen by the U.S. government.
Jack Frazier, 65, was one of 178 former hostages who successfully sued the Republic of Iraq for illegally detaining them before the 1991 Gulf War. The former hostages were awarded a total of $93 million.
Frazier, a diabetic who was denied insulin during his three-month detention, was awarded his share in 2001 by a federal judge.
He received the first half of his $1.75 million settlement last week, and the final payment was deposited into his bank account on Tuesday.
"We have it," said Deanna Frazier, Jack's wife. "All of us have it. I still can't believe it. It's not real yet. After 10 years of fighting and screaming and running into brick walls, in less than a minute somebody just told me it was over."
Frazier was working for Bechtel Corp., which was building a crude oil refinery in Iraq in August 1990, just before Iraq invaded Kuwait. He said he and co-workers were awakened on August 18, 1990, and detained in the empty U.S. ambassador's home. Soldiers would not let anyone out for medicine, he said.
Because he couldn't get insulin, Frazier went blind in one eye and lost 60 pounds. His muscles and nerves began failing. He has no sensation from his knees to his toes or from his fingertips to his elbows.
Terrorism Insurance Bill
Although U.S. law allowed hostages to sue foreign countries, it did not provide a mechanism for releasing frozen assets from those nations. That changed when the Terrorism Insurance Bill became law last year.
"Somebody has finally held Saddam accountable for his acts of terrorism," Deanna Frazier said. "This is the first time he's ever been held accountable, and hopefully it won't be the last."
In 1990, after Iraq invaded Kuwait, the United States issued an order blocking any assets belonging to the government of Iraq and related entities.
In March, the Bush administration seized $1.62 billion in frozen Iraqi assets to be used to rebuild that country after Saddam Hussein is ousted, Treasury Department officials said.
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