For Iraqis in Harm's Way, $5,000 and 'I'm Sorry'

[Aidoneus]

:wow: :puke:

For Iraqis in Harm's Way, $5,000 and 'I'm Sorry'
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Published: March 17, 2004

BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 16 — Nearly a year ago, Ali Kadem Hashem watched his wife burn to death and his three children die after an American missile hit his house.

Last week, he got $5,000 from the United States government and an "I'm sorry" from a young captain.

Mr. Hashem sat for a few moments staring at the stack of bills, crisp $100's.

"Part of me didn't want to take it," he said. "It was an insult."

But the captain, Jonathan Tracy, insisted. "A few thousand dollars isn't going to bring anybody back," he explained later. "But right now, it's all we can do."

It has been nearly a year since the war in Iraq started but American military commanders are just now reckoning with the volume of civilian casualties streaming in for assistance. Twice a week, at a center in Baghdad, masses of grief-weary Iraqis line up, some on crutches, some disfigured, some clutching photographs of smashed houses and silenced children, all ready to file a claim for money or medical treatment. It is part of a compensation process devised for this war.

Outside the room where the captain was saying he was sorry, a long line of people waited. One was Ayad Bressem, a 12-year-old boy scorched by a cluster bomb. His face is covered by ugly blue freckles. Children call him "Mr. Gunpowder."

"I just want something," the burned boy said.

"Come back later," a guard told him. "You'll get some money. But we're busy."

--snip--

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/17/international/middleeast/17CIVI.html?ex=1080548867&ei=1&en=180728c149e3caec

[BeFree]

1. Dear Mr. Hashem

Sir, I hope you will forgive us someday. We, as American citizens, are in part responsible for the deaths of your family. Our leaders led us to bombing you and your country and inflicted great terror upon your people. Let it be known that some of us tried to stop the invasion; We failed. Your loss is our loss. The pittance of money we now offer you is not to buy your forgiveness, there is no sum of money which can buy that.

Hopefully, in the long run, your country will be at peace again. Until then be assured that some of us are deeply ashamed of the Shock and Awe visited on you and your's. Wish us luck in our endeavor to bring our troops home, it is the one thing that will hasten the peace.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

2. What a bunch of sissies. A real bad ass 'murikan never says he's sorry.

[UpInArms]

3. I found it interesting on the

Evening Lies last night - the talking point was that now the losses were being greater for the Iraqis than for the military (with the car bombings) yet they omitted the loss of life of the Iraqis caused by our invasion and attack upon their country - when they (the Iraqis) lost tens of thousands.

What utter hypocrisy.

[ze_dscherman]

4. Todays News Release from Amnesty International, condemning U.S. policy

This is from a report by amnesty international:


Iraq: One year after the war, the human rights situation remains critical
One year after the war on Iraq was launched, the promise of improved human rights for Iraqi citizens remains far from realised, concludes a new report by Amnesty International (Iraq: One Year On published Thursday 18 March 2004).

The human rights organisation's new report highlights the insecurity within Iraq, particularly:


Civilians killed by excessive force by coalition forces and attacks by armed groups;
8,500 or more people detained by the CPA, many detained without charge for weeks or months, with reports of torture and deaths in custody;
Iraqis collectively punished for attacks on coalition forces with crops and houses destroyed;
US soldiers operating, in effect, with total impunity with Iraqi courts forbidden to hear cases against US or other foreign troops or officials;
A lack of law and order, with revenge killings, kidnappings, looting;
A lack of justice for past human rights violations.


SNIP
In November 2003 the US military said it had paid out US $1.5 million to Iraqi civilians to settle claims by victims or relatives of victims for personal injury, death or damage to property. Some of the 10,402 claims reportedly filed concerned incidents in which US soldiers had shot dead or seriously wounded Iraqi civilians with no apparent cause.

Beyond such payments, however, there has been little recourse for the families of the dead and injured. No US soldier has been prosecuted for illegally killing an Iraqi civilian.

Iraqi courts, because of an order issued by the US-led authority in Baghdad in June 2003, are forbidden from hearing cases against US soldiers or any other foreign troops or foreign officials in Iraq. In effect, US soldiers are operating with total impunity.

SNIP


More: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/deliver/document/15255.html

[diamond14]

5. PHOTO from story....young boy blinded and scarred by OUR weapons

may God forgive us for what we have done...and I am certain that this little boy's story is one of many stories....OUR taxes pay to develop these nasty weapons, and OUR taxes pay for all the destruction in Iraq, against people who did no harm to us, and had no weapons of mass destruction, and posed no threat to us....

BOOT BUSH back to crawford....or better yet, send bush* to the Haig for his war crimes....



Ayad said that on April 25, he was tending cows in the village of Kifil, south of Baghdad, when a bomblet in the grass burst open. It embedded bits of metal in his face, leaving him blind in one eye and coating his skin with dark dots that look like pencil stabs.

Ayad's family say they need money to pay for eye surgery. But by the time Ayad and his father reached the front of the line, Captain Tracy was closing for the day. While Ayad pleaded with a guard, his father held up a small piece of paper to the glass doors. "I have a serious problem," it read. "I need help. I wish I have a translator."

Nobody responded. A few hours later, the two were back on the bus, headed home.

[diamond14]

6. another photo from NYT article....will these people be able to forgive us?

Military officials say they do not have precise figures or even estimates of the number of noncombatant Iraqis killed and wounded by American-led forces in Iraq.

"We don't keep a list," said a Pentagon spokeswoman, Lt. Cmdr. Jane Campbell. "It's just not policy."





BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 16 — Nearly a year ago, Ali Kadem Hashem watched his wife burn to death and his three children die after an American missile hit his house.

Last week, he got $5,000 from the United States government and an "I'm sorry" from a young captain.

Mr. Hashem sat for a few moments staring at the stack of bills, crisp $100's.

"Part of me didn't want to take it," he said. "It was an insult."

But the captain, Jonathan Tracy, insisted. "A few thousand dollars isn't going to bring anybody back," he explained later. "But right now, it's all we can do."

[Blue_Tires]

9. OMFG

"We don't keep a list," said a Pentagon spokeswoman, Lt. Cmdr. Jane Campbell. "It's just not policy."

oh come the hell on!!!! how else do you expect to keep track of all the $$$$ expended on the deaths??? It ain't exactly a bottomless well of cash free for the taking (although some in the administration think so)

[struggle4progress]

12. I hate to say it ...

because I think the injured deserve compensation, but I am afraid your reaction is on-the-mark.

Billions missing in Iraq, no records, no counts of the injured, and a pretty cover story about US handing out cash.

A few thousand dollars is a drop in the bucket compared to what's floating around.

Wonder where the money is really going? And why did the republications vote against penalties for war profiteering?

[VLC98]

10. My first tears of the day are for this boy.

I often find myself crying lately. I wonder if it will be left to the Greek government to help this boy, as they did with the poor little love with the bullet lodged in his brain.

[sandboxface]

7. Where’s my $5000 for coping with the Bush Administration?

[newyawker99]

11. Hi sandboxface!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[ZR2]

8. How long until Halliburton

sends this guy a bill for the funerals.