Don’t single out some victims of terror for compensation

As a former U.S. Air Force combat search and rescue operator, I’ve spent my life expecting the unexpected, but President Joe Biden’s decision to distribute half of $7 billion in frozen Afghan funds among a select group of American terror victims still shocked me. Why would he exclude so many U.S. victims of terror?

Perhaps Biden received poor counsel about the broader implications of his executive order by aides under the influence of special interest groups. After all, no administration is immune from the backroom dealing that has characterized U.S. politics over the past few decades.

So maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise that the biggest beneficiaries of the order are about 160 terror victims (out of thousands) and the influential law firms that represent them — coincidentally, I’m sure, the very same lawyers that have previously staffed senior positions on Afghanistan issues in his administration.

Meanwhile, other victims and their families, including U.S. military veterans and gold star families, will receive nothing. And now powerful insurance companies are trying to displace actual victims and their families so they can take a slice of the money for themselves.

The situation smells terrible and feels worse.

Fortunately, there is still time to change course. I humbly offer my plea, free from hidden agendas, to resolve this unfortunate situation: Redirect the frozen Afghan funds to the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund (USVSST).

The USVSST was designed to address scenarios such as this. It was created under bipartisan legislation in 2015 to equitably support all American victims of terror, including veterans. Unlike the president’s executive order, the fund caps attorney fees, meaning victims — not lawyers — get more money. And the fund is available to anyone who has obtained a judgment against a state sponsor of terrorism.

I know this because I’ve lived it: I was stationed at the Khobar Towers in Saudi

Arabia when Hezbollah Al-Hejaz detonated a powerful truck bomb on June 25, 1996.

The blast hurled me down three stories and buried me under the rubble while I bled profusely. I awoke from a coma five weeks later at Walter Reed, where I went through the agonizing process of re-learning how to walk and speak after my traumatic brain injury. It’s also where I learned that the five other members of my fixed crew — the soldiers whom I considered my family — had died in the attack. I was devastated.

There are many who are burdened by even more harrowing tales of survival and loss. That’s why victims such as me and others involved in terrorism incidents including those targeting the

U.S. Embassy and Embassy Annex in Beirut, the USS Cole in Yemen, and the U.S. embassies in East Africa have come together to speak out for victims of terror left behind by Biden’s flawed executive order. It is important that Americans receive just compensation from sponsors of terrorism and adequate support from the U.S. government in that pursuit, as the fund would facilitate.

That’s why the president’s decision is so confusing. Instead of order and equity, the president perhaps unknowingly instigated a series of public and messy courthouse fights pitting victims against victims. And when the dust settles, white-shoe lawyers will cash in, to the tune of more than $1 billion, while their clients nurse reopened wounds and the rest of us suffer silently from the sidelines.

Biden should not make the Afghan funds a gift to trial lawyers and, potentially, insurance companies. I risked my life alongside other American servicemen and women to protect this country. Our veterans and the families of those who made the ultimate sacrifice deserve support for their suffering. By depositing the money into the USVSST Fund, victims of terror will finally receive the support and equal treatment they deserve.