Washington – What’s an Iraqi life worth? How about an Iraqi car? For the U.S. military in Iraq, it may be roughly the same.
A report released late last month by the Government Accountability Office examines the practices and rules guiding condolence payments that the U.S. military can distribute to families of Iraqi civilians killed “as a result of U.S. and coalition forces’ actions during combat.”
The Pentagon has set $2,500 as the highest individual sum that can be paid. Most death payments remain at that level, with roughly $1,000 for serious injury and $500 for property damage.
In 2005, the sums distributed in Iraq reached $21.5 million and – with violence on the upswing – dropped to $7.3 million last year, the GAO reported.
The report offers an example of how payments are estimated: “Two members of the same family are killed in a car hit by U.S. forces. The family could receive a maximum of $7,500 in CERP condolence payments ($2,500 for each death and up to $2,500 for vehicle damage).”
A former Army judge advocate who served in Iraq has written that every Iraqi he spoke with expressed shock about this situation. Under the Foreign Claims Act, he wrote, “the full market value may be paid for a Toyota run over by a tank … but only $2,500 may be paid for the death of a child shot in the cross fire.”
