Syria ordered to pay Marietta family

A federal judge has awarded more than $400 million to the families of two American men who were kidnapped and decapitated while working as civilian contractors in Iraq. The families of Jack Hensley, of Marietta, and Eugene "Jack" Armstrong, of Hillsdale, Mich., had filed a federal lawsuit in 2006 against Syria, which they claimed supported the group that killed the two men in 2004. The two were subcontractors working in Baghdad for an American consortium providing civilian support to the U.S. efforts to rebuild Iraq. Federal Judge Rosemary M. Collyer in Washington handed down the award on Sept. 26. The court order describes evidence from a three-day trial in January. Syria never answered the claims or appeared to contest them.

(Associated Press)