U.S. prisoners of war were brutally tortured by Saddam's secret police during the Persian Gulf War. They were whipped, burned, shocked, beat, starved and urinated on. They suffered broken bones, shattered skulls and eardrums.
Seventeen of the Gulf War POWs and 37 of their family members successfully brought a law suit in federal court, winning a judgment to hold Iraq accountable for their torture.
Acting on advice from its lawyers, the Bush administration seized the entire $1.7 billion in blocked Iraqi assets "for the reconstruction of Iraq," depriving the POWs of being able to enforce their judgment and, not having done enough damage to our POWs, the administration then intervened in court and persuaded a court of appeals to set aside the POWs' judgment. Eighteen months after the Bush administration's successful attempt to deprive our POWs of their right to compensation, most of the funds for reconstruction of Iraq remain unspent, although many other claims against Iraq have been honored.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38242-2004Nov9.html