Condolence payments to Iraqis soar

E&P's Greg Mitchell:

The local custom is known as "solatia" --it means families in Iraq receive financial compensation for physical damage or a loss of life. The practice has earned more attention in recent weeks, with news that the U.S. military paid about $2500 per victim to families in Haditha following the alleged massacre there last November.

But how common is the practice? And how many deaths do the numbers seem to suggest?

A chilling report from the Boston Globe on Thursday reveals that the amount of cash the U.S. military has paid to families of Iraqi civilians killed or badly injured operations involving American troops "skyrocketed from just under $5 million in 2004 to almost $20 million last year, according to Pentagon financial data." The payments can range from several hundred dollars for a severed limb to a standard of $2500 for loss of life.

There is no explanation on how that top figure was arrived at.

Globe reporter Bryan Bender observes: "If each of the payments made in 2005 was the maximum $2,500 for an Iraqi death, it would amount to 8,000 fatalities. But it's unknown exactly how many payments were made or for what amount."

Defense Department officials stressed to Bender that the payments shouldn't be seen as an admission of guilt or responsibility. But Bender observes that "the fourfold increase in condolence payments raises new questions about the extent to which Iraqi civilians have been the victims of U.S. firepower."

Thank heavens the media has its hands full at the moment with Zarqawi cheering. We'd hate to have to hear more about this story.