US Military Pays Hush Money When US Troops Kill Iraqi Civilians
Pamela Hess
United Press International
interestalert.com
Posted 9/30/2003 8:14:00 PM
September 30, 2003, Summary: Is the US military paying bribes to quiet the civilian opposition to the US military occupation of Iraq? The article below documents how US military officers give cash -- more than $400,000 in the past six months -- as compensation to Iraqi families for deaths and property loss. Is there accounting and oversight for these US payoffs? Are these expenditures impacting troop readiness by reducing funds available for parts, repairs, recreation or rehabilitation for our troops? ...
Washington, DC (UPI) - The U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division last week paid $11,000 to the three surviving members of a family killed at an American military checkpoint in Baghdad Aug. 7.
The al-Kawas family is nevertheless pursuing a lawsuit against the U.S. military for unlawful death and possibly war crimes with the help of an Irish law firm Madden & Finucane.
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of coalition military forces in Iraq, directed the 1st Armored Division to pay off the family after six protestors disrupted one of his news conferences in Baghdad over the al-Kawas family's plight.
The protestors from Voices in the Wilderness were escorted out of the room and barred from attending future news conferences, but they had achieved an important goal: focusing high-level attention on at least a few of the civilian victims of the continuing Iraqi war.
The U.S. military has paid more than $400,000 to more than 2,000 Iraqis who can make claims against the U.S. government for property damage, injury and death, but the Sept. 24 payment is one of the largest yet. The al-Kawas family is also one of the more egregious cases.
"Whatever they are going to give me, they are not going to give back my husband and daughters and son," said Anwar al-Kawas, the 35-year old mother, in an interview with United Press International Sept. 7, a month after the incident.
She was in the family car with her three children and husband when they were killed. Only she, her then-unborn son, and her 13-year old daughter survived.
The family was driving home at 9 p.m. on a dark Baghdad road. They accidentally drove through what they say was a poorly marked and unlit checkpoint and into the middle of a military raid.
Another civilian car that drove through the checkpoint had already been attacked and was on fire, killing the 21-year-old driver and injuring one of his two passengers.
The troops opened fire on the family car, a four-door sedan. Killed were 36-year old father, Adel, his 16-year old daughter, Olaa, 18-year old Haydar, his son, and 8-year old daughter Mervat.
Only Hadil and the pregnant Anwar lived through the hail of bullets. Hadil has six pieces of shrapnel in her skull, and at least three more in her hip and leg, according to her X-rays.
Four bullet holes pierce the car's windshield. Dozens more blew out every other window in the car. Blood stains the glass-covered seats, and small pieces of human tissue speckled the ceiling.
Anwar was in the front seat. Asked how she survived the onslaught, she says, "Allah." And then she corrects herself. Her husband threw himself over her.
Under military rules, the Kawas family should not be eligible for compensation for wrongful death because they were killed during an ongoing military operation. Although President Bush declared the end of major fighting May 1, they are "combat excluded" casualties, killed in an act of war and therefore not entitled to the up to $50,000 available for each person under the Foreign Claims Act.
However, military commanders have funds they can use to pay off Iraqi victims -- whatever the circumstances -- if they choose. One senior general in Iraq told UPI he gave his field commanders wide latitude to tap not just the Commander's Emergency Response Fund but also operations and maintenance funds to help innocent victims. He instructed his troops to contact victims through their local clerics within 48 hours of an incident, to give them time to mourn.
It took nearly two months for the al-Kawas family to be offered and then receive the money, funds that are sorely needed with the death of the sole breadwinner and the birth of a new baby.
Paying off victims is not just a nice thing to do in Iraq. It's a smart thing to do, and it's expected by the Iraqis, the commander said.
Iraq has a long and common tradition -- begun by the Islamic prophet Mohammed -- of encouraging "blood money" payments as a means of ending disputes. Such payments are tendered instead of one side seeking revenge against the other, a practice that can spiral into perpetual interfamily or intertribal warfare.
The payment to the al-Kawas family took nearly two months and followed a long and tortuous path. They were approached at least twice by representatives from the 1st AD or their Iraqi emissaries, but no paperwork was filled out, and no apologies were offered. It was not until Sanchez' order went out that the money was arranged.
A military investigation cleared the soldiers of wrongdoing. The report has not yet been released.
Hadil and Anwar, who gave birth in August to a boy named Hassan, have moved in with Anwar's brother for a 40-day mourning period.
A week after the incident, Sanchez announced the procedure for setting up "hasty checkpoints" would be changed. The signs announcing the checkpoints -- set up a few minutes before a raid begins on a building suspected to house former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's loyalists -- would be put out farther down the road, giving residents a chance to stop.
Anwar is determined to push forward with her lawsuit, however. Her lawyer attended the meeting where she received compensation to make sure it would not undermine her case in a U.S. court.
"We know from out experience in Ireland when unarmed civilians are killed by soldiers and go without effective or independent investigation that it creates resentment and perpetuates conflict," said Richie MacRitchie, the lead attorney on the case for Madden & Finucane.
Her case now may hinge on Sanchez's admission of a "mistake" and the tightening in procedures at checkpoints, as they could be construed as an indication of negligence on the coalition's part.
"It appears to us the events in question constitute a grave beach of the Geneva Convention. This term is commonly referred to as a war crime," MacRitchie said. "The Americans are responsible to investigate and bring those responsible to justice. And any investigation has to be independent."
It cannot come from Iraqi police or courts because American administrator L. Paul Bremer exempted all coalition members from Iraqi legal jurisdiction. A senior legal advisor to the U.S. military told UPI the al-Kawas case is likely to be thrown out of court for lack of jurisdiction |
