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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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October 25th,
2007 - U.S. Offers Cash to Victims in Blackwater Incident |
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U.S. Offers Cash to Victims
in Blackwater Incident Family Members Of Some View Amount as Paltry By Sudarsan Raghavan Washington Post October 25, 2007 Baghdad, Oct. 24 - The U.S.
Embassy on Wednesday began offering tens of thousands of dollars in payments
to victims and families of victims of the Sept. 16 shootings in Baghdad
involving security guards from the firm Blackwater Worldwide, according to
relatives and U.S. officials. Family members of several
victims turned down the compensation, out of concern that accepting the funds
would limit their future claims against the North Carolina-based security
contractor and its chief executive, Erik Prince. Others said that the money being
offered - in some cases $12,500 for a death - was paltry and that they wanted
to sue Blackwater in an American court. "This is an
insult," said Firoz Fadhil Abbas, whose brother Osama was killed in a
barrage of bullets. "The funeral and the wake cost more than what they
offered. My brother who got killed was responsible for four families." The offers of compensation,
while a standard practice in the U.S. military, are unusual for the U.S.
Embassy, reflecting the diplomatic and political sensitivities raised by the
shootings, which sparked outrage in Iraq and the United States. U.S. Embassy spokeswoman
Mirembe Nantongo described the offers as "condolence payments" to
support the relatives of the victims and said the money was not intended to
be a final settlement of their claims. Relatives could still bring suits
against Blackwater, she said. "It's not an admission
of culpability," Nantongo said. "And this is in no way a waiver of
future claims." The offers came two days
before the 40-day anniversary of the shootings, a traditional day of mourning
in many Islamic societies. They also came a day after a panel, appointed by
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, found shortcomings in the embassy's
compensation system for incidents involving private security contractors. "The Embassy process
for provision of payments, as is expected by Iraqi legal practice and custom,
to the families of innocent civilians killed or seriously injured ... or for
damage to property, is not as responsive or timely as that of the U.S.
military," the report found. Blackwater guards contend
that they were ambushed by Iraqi civilians and policemen. But eyewitnesses,
police investigators and U.S. soldiers who later arrived at the scene say the
guards opened fire on Iraqi civilians without provocation. The Iraqi government has
concluded that Blackwater is solely to blame for the shootings, which left 17
people dead in Nisoor Square near the affluent western Baghdad neighborhood
of Mansour. Blackwater's legal status is
unclear. Foreign security firms are immune from Iraqi questioning and
legislation under Order 17, a law created by Iraq's post-invasion U.S.
authority. But the Iraqi government is mounting a determined effort to
overturn the decree and clear the way for private security companies to be
tried in Iraqi courts and for Iraqi citizens to file suit against them. On Wednesday, Iraq's cabinet
decided to create a committee to explore ways to repeal Order 17, according
to Iraqi television reports citing anonymous Iraqi officials. An official in
the office of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he could neither confirm
nor deny the action. Iraq's Interior Ministry has
been trying to repeal Order 17 since January and has referred its findings
from an internal probe of the Sept. 16 incident for possible criminal
prosecution. Iraqi investigators from the Defense Ministry have concluded
that Blackwater should be expelled from Iraq and that $8 million should be
paid as compensation for each victim. U.S. officials have said that any action
against Blackwater must wait until the findings of an ongoing FBI probe are
released. Some victims have sued
Blackwater and Prince in a U.S. federal court, seeking unspecified damages to
compensate for alleged war crimes, illegal killings, wrongful death and
emotional distress. Haitham Ahmed, whose wife,
Mehasin Muhsin Kadhum, and son, Ahmed Haitham, were killed in Nisoor Square,
said justice has been elusive. He has written to Maliki seeking help, but as
of Wednesday he had not been contacted by Iraqi officials, he said. On Saturday, Ahmed met with
a State Department official who asked him what he thought was fair
compensation for his wife and son. "They are
priceless," Ahmed replied. The official pressed him on
an amount. "Like Lockerbie,"
Ahmed replied, referring to the Pan American airline bombing over Scotland in
which victims' families each reportedly received $8 million in compensation
from the Libyan government. "And you would have to
deliver the criminals to an Iraqi court just like Libya delivered the
criminals to the British," Ahmed told the U.S. official. On Wednesday, Ahmed refused
to go to the Green Zone to receive the payment from a team led by Patricia
Butenis, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy. Later, Ahmed learned
from Mohammad Hafud Abdul Razaq that $12,500 had been offered for the death
of Abdul Razaq's 10-year-old son, Ali, who was seated in the back seat of a
car near Nisoor Square when a bullet struck his head. "A humiliating
figure," said Ahmed, who added that he was considering joining the U.S.
lawsuit. Abdul Razaq, a 37-year-old
car dealer, refused to accept the money. Butenis, he said, expressed her
condolences, but he wanted Blackwater to acknowledge what it did. "The manager of Blackwater
didn't apologize, and he didn't admit the crime. He didn't apologize for his
crime," Abdul Razaq said. Then he said that he told Butenis that the
amount was far too little to compensate for his son's death. "I told the ambassador,
'You are fighting terrorist groups who are offering $100,000 for people who
blow themselves up.'" Others were desperate. Baraa
Sadoun, 29, a taxi driver, was shot in the abdomen. He took $7,500 in crisp
$100 bills. He had already had two surgeries in a private hospital. "I paid double this
amount for the treatment and surgery," Sadoun said. "For more than
a month now, I'm jobless and disabled. And my car is completely damaged. This
incident totally ruined my life." Special correspondent Zaid
Sabah contributed to this report. External link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/24/AR2007102401936.html |