But not like you might think. Not compensation paid by the US government to the hundreds of thousands of civilians murdered by American bombs. Not compensation to victims of Abu Graib.
No…it’s the other way around. Iraq has agreed to pay four hundred million dollars to American victims who suffered injuries as prisoners of war and as hostages in the first Gulf War and the 1987 attack on the USS Stark.
As reported by the American Society of International Law in Claims Settlement Agreement Between the Government of The United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Iraq (September 2, 2010):
According to at U.S. Department of State press release, efforts by the United States and Iraq to settle longstanding claims of U.S. victims of the Saddam Hussein regime were brought to a conclusion on June 21, 2011, in accordance with the U.S.-Iraq Claims Settlement Agreement signed on September 2, 2010. The Settlement Agreement provides that Iraq will be immune from suit in U.S. courts for claims by U.S. nationals arising out of the first Gulf War and the 1987 attack on the USS Stark. In return, Iraq has agreed to pay four hundred million dollars to U.S. victims who suffered injuries as prisoners of war and hostages. The final step will be the establishment of a mechanism to process applications for compensation of claims by eligible U.S. nationals.
The State Department reports that “[t]he resolution of these claims is the product of several years of hard work and careful negotiations between the governments of the United States and Iraq. It represents a significant step in Iraq’s efforts to resolve outstanding claims arising from actions of the previous regime.”
Click here for whole document (approximately 7 pages).
Update: From reader Michael Malak:
$400m for, what, 400 fatalities? $1m per U.S. life?
The U.S. has only been paying $1,500 compensation per Iraqi life.
Update 2: From an ex-soldier:
6:31 pm on July 14, 2011About the U.S. government only paying out $1,500 per Iraqi life…
Not quite.
During my first deployment, sometimes we’d kill so many people during a mission that we wouldn’t have enough cash to pay the relatives that much. I know of one mission in particular where we killed about a dozen people (all women and children) and we gave the village sheik (we killed all the relatives) only about $1,800. That’s, what, about $150 an Iraqi life?
