Marine Cpl. Joel Livingston (center) aboard the USS Nassau in 1982. His widow played a major role in getting compensation for former Iran hostages.(Photo: Photo courtesy of Annette Livingston.)
After 36 years, the former hostages held in Iran are finally going to get financial compensation, and the lion’s share of the credit may go to the widow of a Marine and her brother, a Marine security guard who was held by the Iranians.
“A Marine family single-handedly did this,” said Steven Perles, an attorney who helped write the legislation passed by Congress in the latest budget deal that provides money to the former hostages.
Perles had represented Annette Livingston for years. Her husband, Marine Cpl. Joel Livingston, was killed in the Oct. 23, 1983, terrorist attack on the Marine Corps barracks in Beirut. She urged Perles to represent her brother, former Marine Sgt. Paul Lewis, he said.
“Without Annette saying, ‘You have to do this for my brother,’ I would not have done this,” Perles said. “You want to know who deserves the most credit: Annette does for being a good Marine Corps wife and sister.”
Livingston said she was moved by Perles’ praise because she feels the sacrifices of service members are soon forgotten by the general public.
“Anything I can to do help — of course — my brother, or any other military person, it is huge for me,” she told Marine Corps Times. “It brought me to tears when Steve told me that.”
It has taken far too long for the former hostages to finally receive compensation, said Livingston, who said the U.S. government has been part of the problem because it barred the hostages from suing Iran in U.S. courts as part of the agreement under which they were released.
“Part of the agreement with Iran was that Iran would no longer sponsor terrorism,” said Livingston, who lives in Sidney, Illinois. “Obviously, they have not held up their end of the agreement so why would we? To me, the agreement was null and void when they didn’t hold up their end of it.”
Perles also did not like the agreement, known as the Algiers Accords, but he knew he could not vacate it, he said.
“When the State Department gives its word, whether it’s a good deal or a bad deal, you’re never going to get that deal undone,” Perles said. “So I had to design a remedy that preserved the integrity of the Algiers Accords, even though I didn’t like them."
Perles worked with Congress to use fines collected from French bank BNP Paribas that did business with Iran, Sudan and Cuba to compensate the Iran hostages along with other victims of state-sponsored terrorism, he said.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., introduced legislation that set aside $1 billion in bank fees to compensate the former hostages as well as the victims of the attacks on the USS Cole, the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the Khobar Towers housing complex in Saudi Arabia and the Marine barracks in Beirut.
That funding was added to the recently reauthorized program that provides health benefits for 9/11 first responders, said Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
“In addition, I felt it was only appropriate that we also have $1 billion for victims of these other terrorist attacks,” Goodlatte told Marine Corps Times. “I think it’s a matter of fairness. I don’t believe that the $1 billion will satisfy all of the claims, but I think it is a very good first start in helping these victims.”
Livingston said she wishes the money for the former hostages came directly from the Iranian government.
“I guess in a roundabout way, Iran is being held accountable, but to me it’s not a direct route,” she said.
Her brother, Paul Lewis, said he still suffers from shoulder, neck and knee injuries from his time as a hostage, during which he was hands were shackled behind his back for 45 continuous days.
“I never thought we’d get anything, so I guess it’s a pleasant surprise for me,” Lewis told Marine Corps Times.
More than 30 years later, Lewis still resents that the U.S. government was surprised when the Iranians took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. He was only at the embassy for one day before being taken hostage, but he immediately saw that the 14 Marine security guards could not defend the 27-acre complex in a city of five million people, he said.
Lewis is also bitter that the U.S. government appeared to be more concerned with making sure corporations that lost contracts after the Iranian revolution were compensated while not allowing the former hostages to sue the Iranian government.
“So, I felt like I did a lot of time for somebody else,” he said.
But overall, Lewis considers himself lucky to be finally getting compensation. Other U.S. service members taken prisoner have suffered far worse and not received anything, such as U.S. prisoners of war who were used as slave labor by the Japanese during World War II, he said.
“I don’t feel like I’m the first one — probably not the last one — that got a raw deal,” Lewis said. “But I’m getting a nickel and a dollar and it’s a pretty good pile of nickels, so I feel fortunate.”
“A Marine family single-handedly did this,” said Steven Perles, an attorney who helped write the legislation passed by Congress in the latest budget deal that provides money to the former hostages.
Perles had represented Annette Livingston for years. Her husband, Marine Cpl. Joel Livingston, was killed in the Oct. 23, 1983, terrorist attack on the Marine Corps barracks in Beirut. She urged Perles to represent her brother, former Marine Sgt. Paul Lewis, he said.
“Without Annette saying, ‘You have to do this for my brother,’ I would not have done this,” Perles said. “You want to know who deserves the most credit: Annette does for being a good Marine Corps wife and sister.”
Livingston said she was moved by Perles’ praise because she feels the sacrifices of service members are soon forgotten by the general public.
“Anything I can to do help — of course — my brother, or any other military person, it is huge for me,” she told Marine Corps Times. “It brought me to tears when Steve told me that.”
It has taken far too long for the former hostages to finally receive compensation, said Livingston, who said the U.S. government has been part of the problem because it barred the hostages from suing Iran in U.S. courts as part of the agreement under which they were released.
“Part of the agreement with Iran was that Iran would no longer sponsor terrorism,” said Livingston, who lives in Sidney, Illinois. “Obviously, they have not held up their end of the agreement so why would we? To me, the agreement was null and void when they didn’t hold up their end of it.”
Perles also did not like the agreement, known as the Algiers Accords, but he knew he could not vacate it, he said.
“When the State Department gives its word, whether it’s a good deal or a bad deal, you’re never going to get that deal undone,” Perles said. “So I had to design a remedy that preserved the integrity of the Algiers Accords, even though I didn’t like them."
Perles worked with Congress to use fines collected from French bank BNP Paribas that did business with Iran, Sudan and Cuba to compensate the Iran hostages along with other victims of state-sponsored terrorism, he said.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., introduced legislation that set aside $1 billion in bank fees to compensate the former hostages as well as the victims of the attacks on the USS Cole, the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the Khobar Towers housing complex in Saudi Arabia and the Marine barracks in Beirut.
That funding was added to the recently reauthorized program that provides health benefits for 9/11 first responders, said Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
“In addition, I felt it was only appropriate that we also have $1 billion for victims of these other terrorist attacks,” Goodlatte told Marine Corps Times. “I think it’s a matter of fairness. I don’t believe that the $1 billion will satisfy all of the claims, but I think it is a very good first start in helping these victims.”
Livingston said she wishes the money for the former hostages came directly from the Iranian government.
“I guess in a roundabout way, Iran is being held accountable, but to me it’s not a direct route,” she said.
Her brother, Paul Lewis, said he still suffers from shoulder, neck and knee injuries from his time as a hostage, during which he was hands were shackled behind his back for 45 continuous days.
“I never thought we’d get anything, so I guess it’s a pleasant surprise for me,” Lewis told Marine Corps Times.
More than 30 years later, Lewis still resents that the U.S. government was surprised when the Iranians took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. He was only at the embassy for one day before being taken hostage, but he immediately saw that the 14 Marine security guards could not defend the 27-acre complex in a city of five million people, he said.
Lewis is also bitter that the U.S. government appeared to be more concerned with making sure corporations that lost contracts after the Iranian revolution were compensated while not allowing the former hostages to sue the Iranian government.
“So, I felt like I did a lot of time for somebody else,” he said.
But overall, Lewis considers himself lucky to be finally getting compensation. Other U.S. service members taken prisoner have suffered far worse and not received anything, such as U.S. prisoners of war who were used as slave labor by the Japanese during World War II, he said.
“I don’t feel like I’m the first one — probably not the last one — that got a raw deal,” Lewis said. “But I’m getting a nickel and a dollar and it’s a pretty good pile of nickels, so I feel fortunate.”
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