US Military pay-outs to Iraqi families killed or maimed

[Veronica.Franco]

US Military pay-outs to Iraqi families killed or maimed quadrupled from 2004 to 2005

RAW STORY
Published: Wednesday June 7, 2006


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US Military pay-outs to Iraqi families killed or maimed quadrupled from 2004 to 2005, according to a story set for Thursday's Boston Globe, RAW STORY has learned.

Excerpts from the article:

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The amount of cash the US military has paid to families of Iraqi civilians killed or maimed in operations involving American troops skyrocketed from just under $5 million in 2004 to almost $20 million last year, according to Pentagon financial data.

The dramatic spike in what’s known as condolence payments - distributed to Iraqi families whose loved ones were caught in US crossfire or victimized during US ground and air assaults - suggests that American commanders made on-the-spot restitution far more frequently, according to congressional aides and officials familiar with a special fund at the disposal of military officers in Iraq.

Defense Department officials maintain that the payments - which officials said range from a few hundred dollars for injuries such as a severed limb to $2,500 for the death of a relative - mirror a local custom commonly known as ”solatia,” in which families receive financial compensation for damages or human losses. They stressed that the payments shouldn’t be seen as an admission of guilt or responsibility.

But amid reports that US Marines paid $2,500 per victim after dozens of civilians were killed on Nov. 19 in the town of Haditha - an incident now engulfed by allegations of a massacre - the fourfold increase in condolence payments raises new questions about the extent to which Iraqi civilians have been the victims of US firepower.

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DEVELOPING...

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/US_Military_payouts_to_Iraqi_families_0607.html

[Veronica.Franco]

1. Iraqis are paid $2500 per victim ... Rumsfeld's number? ...

Who else would put a figure to their cost of life ...