It’s Always Open Season on Iraqis
Unfriendly fire: As the truth continues to either come out, unravel or disappear in the wake of the alleged Haditha massacre of Iraqi civilians by U.S. Marines, reports of other killings are starting to surface. According to the Interpress News Agency:
Nabiha Nisaif Jassim, a 35-year-old mother of two, was killed in firing along with her 57-year-old cousin Saliha Mohammed Hassan on May 30 when they were being transported to Samarra General Hospital for Nabiha to give birth.
It is commonly known that the U.S. forces in Iraq typically pay surviving family members $2,500 per kill, er, accidental death caused by a Washington bullet or bomb.What was not reported, according to an Iraqi human rights investigator who spoke with IPS on condition of anonymity, was that both women were shot in the back of the head by U.S. snipers.
While the U.S. military denies any wrongdoing, eyewitness accounts seem to contradict the denials — sound familiar? Oh, and Jassim’s brother was offered $5,000, not as compensation, but as a sign of friendship, he was told.
It is commonly known that the U.S. forces in Iraq typically pay surviving family members $2,500 per kill, er, accidental death caused by a Washington bullet or bomb. Indeed, a recent Department of Defense report noted that the U.S. military has paid out $19 million to Iraqis over the past year — half of that in al-Anbar Province where some of the fiercest insurgent activity has occurred. While the military insists that it has paid out in only 600 incidents, the math doesn’t compute.
If it were just 600 dead Iraqis, then the payouts would average $31,667 per dead Iraqi. Although that still is not adequate compensation for the death of a loved one, work the math the other way, and the factor is more chilling. At the usual rate of $2,500 per dead Iraqi, $19 million would pay for 7,600 dead Iraqis.
And that’s just the ones who accepted the bribe. There are others, like Redam Jassim, who declined to take the money. Instead, he wants to know why his sister and cousin were murdered in cold blood by American soldiers.