U.S. seen as unaccountable in Iraqi civilian deaths

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N02663804.htm

WASHINGTON, May 3 (Reuters) - Iraqi civilians who have suffered from U.S. military operations face steep obstacles in obtaining compensation for the deaths of their loved ones or material damage, human rights analysts say.

The case of Italian agent Nicola Calipari, gunned down at a U.S. checkpoint in Baghdad on March 4 as he was escorting an Italian hostage to freedom, shows how reluctant the United States is to admit culpability, even in high-profile cases.

The United States exonerated American forces in the incident, but Rome on Monday blamed nervous U.S. troops.

"There is no reason to think that when a nameless Iraqi without international connections is the victim, the U.S. military would take it even remotely seriously," said Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies, a Washington think tank that opposes the U.S. military involvement in Iraq.

[LibDemAlways]

1. If the US had to pay compensation to

the family of every Iraqi killed or injured since the illegal invasion began, the national debt would more than double overnight. Hell, the repukes don't even want to provide adequate health care for the US troops maimed over there. No way in hell any Iraqi will ever see a dime.

[Zerex71]

3. And yet the military is offering reenlistment bonuses of $100k.

So that shows where their priorities are.

[Felix Mala]

2. Stinks from the head down...

The White House is not responsible for anything that goes wrong in Iraq, even though nothing is going wrong in Iraq...

The military is not responsible for any innocent deaths... This is war after all!!!

(Too bad no one explained to the Chimp-in-Chief that war often means innocent deaths. But that would deny him "plausible deniability:" I... I... didn't know children get killed in wars...")

Today in our local paper, someone wrote that Lyndie England is not responsible for what she did at Abu Grhaib.

Rumsfeld has already said the guards are not responsible.

One of these days, we're going to wake up to a big black hole that used to be the Middle East and no one will have a clue about how it happened.

[struggle4progress]

4. kick