http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/12/480/US Compensation Payments to Iraqi Civilians Made Public
by Mark Tran
The US army memo about the killing of an Iraqi woman in a taxi at a checkpoint in Iraq is terse and matter-of-fact.The incident occurred in the eastern Iraqi town of Baquba in February last year, when a taxi carrying a woman and her two children went through the checkpoint. US troops opened fire, killing the woman, who died from internal bleeding, and wounding her two children. 0412 04
“There is evidence to suggest that the warning cones and printed checkpoint signs had not yet been displayed in front of the checkpoint, which may be the reason why the driver of the taxi did not believe he was required to stop,” says the memo, which recommended a compensation payment of $7,500 (£3,798).
The memo is just one of 500 claims for damages by family members of civilians killed or injured by US forces and its allies in Iraq and Afghanistan that have been obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU made the documents public on its website today.
The ACLU received the records in response to a freedom of information act request filed in June last year.
“Since US troops first set foot in Afghanistan in 2001, the defence department has gone to unprecedented lengths to control and suppress information about the human costs of war,” said Anthony Romero, the executive director of the ACLU.
He added: “Our democracy depends on an informed citizenry, and it is critical that the American people have access to full and accurate information about the prosecution of the war and the implications for innocent civilians.”
In another case, an Iraqi civilian said US forces opened fire with more than 100 rounds on his sleeping family, killing his mother, father and brother. Such was the firepower that 32 of the family’s sheep were also killed. The army acknowledged responsibility and made two payments: a compensation payment of $11,200 and a $2,500 condolence payment.
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