So-Called 'Condolence' Payments for Iraq's Dead

When the US military kills a civilian in Iraq, it gives the family members money - as if that makes up for the tragedy somehow.

The New York Times reports the astronomical amounts being paid out - most particularly by the marines. This, of course raises serious questions.

WASHINGTON, June 9 — Almost half of the more than $19 million in compensation that the American military allocated last year to compensate for killing or injuring Iraqis and damaging property came from Marine-led units in Anbar Province, Defense Department records show.

The $9.5 million in "condolence payments" by the Marines reflects the persistent fighting against insurgents in violent Anbar, but it also provides a reminder of the heavy toll that the conflict has taken on civilians, mostly from insurgents but also from American units.

Throughout Iraq, payments to Iraqis deemed to be noncombatants skyrocketed, going to $19.7 million in the 2005 fiscal year from about $5 million in 2004.

How many lives does that represent and, if the military is handing out payments while at the same time claiming they're not keeping track of civilian deaths in Iraq, shouldn't that be investigated?

Ted Kennedy wants some answers too:

Noting the sharp increase in payments last year, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, last week asked the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, to look into the use of condolence payments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Among the questions that Mr. Kennedy asked the agency to examine was, "How many approved claims have been reviewed to determine that the cause did not involve wrongful, as opposed to inadvertent, action on the part of U.S. forces."

Expect Kennedy to be attacked for 'not supporting the troops' again since he dared question Rumsfeld's department.