Waszyngton: sankcje na Zimbabwe w ciągu dwóch t...

snow21 The Price of One Iraqi Life 30.06.08, 18:24

iraqwar.mirror-world.ru/article/168504

U.S. military tries to pacify grieving Iraqis with condolence payments
By James Foley
Master Sgt. Troy Baylis counts out $1,000 U.S. to pay to the mother of a Son of
Iraq militia member who was killed by U.S. forces, while she and interpreter
Jawad Alzayadi look on.
'In Iraq, condolence payments are a cultural norm. When a car collision results
in a death, two sheiks will negotiate a nominal payment for funeral expenses
that the party at fault will pay.'Share Digg del.icio.us Reddit Newsvine LSA
ANACONDA, Iraq — The woman named Sabah is wearing a black dress and scarf as she
sits across the desk from Sgt. Jonathan Fondow inside a small trailer.

“Please tell her we’re extremely sorry and we know no amount can replace her
loss,” Fondow, an Army paralegal, says through the interpreter. Sabah’s body
stiffens, her expression suspended between grimace and complete loss.

Master Sgt. Troy Baylis then comes from the other side of the room and, after
getting a signature from Sabah, begins to count the money onto the desk: $1,000
U.S. — in stacked $50 bills. Sabah takes the money and shuffles out of the
trailer office.

Her son, Mohamed, in his mid-20s, was from nearby Albu Hisma, in Salah ad-Din
Province, about an hour north of Baghdad. Mohamed had been a member of the Sons
of Iraq (SOI), a group of local, armed civilians also known as Concerned Local
Citizens, who are paid by the U.S. military to guard checkpoints in problem
areas around Iraq, mostly within the Sunni Triangle northwest of Baghdad.

Army reports said Mohamed was guarding a rooftop when U.S. Apache helicopters
saw an armed man who was not supposed to be stationed there. Pilots tried to
communicate to him via radio to put his gun down, but when he did not, the
Apaches opened fire, killing Mohamed instantly. The pilots later said they had
seen the colored flares of tracer bullets fired at them.

Once U.S. forces realized they had killed a Son of Iraq, they went to Mohamed’s
house to make a condolence payment. According to Fondow, who investigates local
Iraqi combat damage claims under the watch of the 2nd Battalion 320th Field
Artillery Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, Mohamed’s uncle and cousin
convinced the soldiers that the two of them were responsible for supporting his
orphaned children. They accepted the Army’s condolence payment and promptly
disappeared.

This betrayal left Sabah with $1,000 instead of the $2,500 typically paid in
condolence to families of Iraqi civilians who are killed during combat operations.

The amount seems minuscule by U.S. standards, but a non-Westerner employed on
base often earns between $12 to $18 a day, according to Sgt. Erin Murphy, a
paralegal for the 316th Expeditionary Sustainment Command. A payment of $2,500
is equivalent to a year’s income, she says.

Iraq’s 2007 per capita gross domestic product (GDP) was approximately $3,600,
according to the CIA World Fact Book. But with unemployment hovering between 20
percent to 30 percent, the yearly income of a subsistence-level farmer in Albu
Hishma could be substantially less.

“I feel if coalition forces are at fault, we should pay them,” Fondow says. “If
we don’t pay them, what are they going to do?”

Fondow normally makes two to three accidental death payments per month in this
mixed Sunni-Shiite area around the city of Balad, which has recently seen
hundreds of men with insurgent histories enter reconciliation agreements with
U.S. troops. According to the terms, if the men lay down their arms and agree to
appear before an Iraqi judge, U.S. forces agree to stop actively hunting them.

A small history of payments
“Soldiers who deploy want to feel that they are making a difference,” Capt.
Wjociech Kornacki, Judge Advocate for 1st Armored Division chief of foreign
claims, says, “and making payments for claims makes you feel that way.” Many of
those same families who received the payment will come back to report on
insurgent recruiting efforts, he added.

But “each unit handles claims differently,” Fondow says. “We’re high on morale,
but all it takes is to lose one solider to change the view,” implying that the
level of enemy attacks influences how these discretionary payments are made.

The conservative total death toll for Iraqi civilians in this war is reported to
be between 84,050 and 91,713, according to IraqiBodyCount.org, a public site
that has counted media reports of violent non-combatant deaths in Iraq since the
2003 invasion. The British journal Lancet estimates the civilian death toll to
be in the hundreds of thousands.

If an innocent civilian is killed, a Commander’s Emergency Relief Program (CERP)
payment can be made as a condolence from U.S. forces.

The need for CERP began shortly after the 2003 invasion, when commanders
realized they had no recourse for damages caused during combat missions, which
are not covered under the Foreign Claims Act, says Captain Kornacki. According
to Kornacki, the Foreign Claims Act covers only non-combat-related damages. For
example if an Army jeep not on a combat patrol, runs into a civilian’s car, the
car owner can be paid under the Foreign Claims Act.

In April 2003, soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division recovered a total of $650
million that had been hidden in panic by Saddam Hussein’s regime, the Los
Angeles Times reported. The discovery became the seed money for various
reconstruction projects during the initial phases of the war.

Congress later approved the first $180 million to help fund CERP, according to
the Joint Force Quarterly. (Congressional funding has increased since, including
$500 million in 2004.) In the National Defense Authorization Act for 2008,
Congress allocated $977,441,000 for CERP.

Such payments to victims’ families are not an admission of liability, says
Kornacki, which could potentially open the U.S. military to lawsuits from
foreign nationals. Instead, the military calls them “good will payments,” and in
a war against an enemy that has been known to pay civilians less than $100 to
plant a roadside bomb, a CERP payment could counter such insurgent enticements,
he says.

Respect and sympathy’
When Maj. Gen. David Petraeus was still commander of the 101st Brigade in Mosul,
he used millions in CERP funds for much publicized rebuilding of schools and
hospitals. “Money is the most powerful weapon we have,” Petraeus said at the time.

In Iraq, condolence payments are a cultural norm, says Kornacki. When a car
collision results in a death, for example, two sheiks will negotiate a nominal
payment for funeral expenses that the party at fault will pay.

Osman Abdel Karim Hussein, 36, mayor of Adwar — a small city in central Iraq,
about 10 miles south of Tikrit — is from a prominent tribal family in Salah
ad-Din. He says tribal law traditionally arbitrates all conflicts before Iraqi
law enforcement or courts are involved.

In the U.S. program, when soldiers kick in the wrong door or shoot the wrong
person, they leave a claim card for damages, Fondow says. Local sheiks often
provide background information as to the character and allegiance of those
making the claims.

“If it’s not a ‘target hit,’ more than likely it will be a condolence payment,”
Fondow says. “If family members were not on the ‘black list’ those wanted by
coalition forces, it will be a payment.”

Any payment must follow the chain of command to the brigade commander. If the
paralegal recommends a payment of more than $2,500 — in the case of multiple
da

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tppiotr Waszyngton: sankcje na Zimbabwe w ciągu dwóch t... 30.06.08, 18:12

Jak poinformowała rzeczniczka Białego Domu Dana Perino, możliwe, że sankcje będą obejmowały <...> embargo na broń. To w jaki sposób Bwana Kubwa(USA)będzie sprzedawała broń Zimbabwe?
- snow21 The Price of One Iraqi Life 30.06.08, 18:24
  
  iraqwar.mirror-world.ru/article/168504
  
  U.S. military tries to pacify grieving Iraqis with condolence payments
  By James Foley
  Master Sgt. Troy Baylis counts out $1,000 U.S. to pay to the mother of a Son of
  Iraq militia member who was killed by U.S. forces, while she and interpreter
  Jawad Alzayadi look on.
  'In Iraq, condolence payments are a cultural norm. When a car collision results
  in a death, two sheiks will negotiate a nominal payment for funeral expenses
  that the party at fault will pay.'Share Digg del.icio.us Reddit Newsvine LSA
  ANACONDA, Iraq — The woman named Sabah is wearing a black dress and scarf as she
  sits across the desk from Sgt. Jonathan Fondow inside a small trailer.
  
  “Please tell her we’re extremely sorry and we know no amount can replace her
  loss,” Fondow, an Army paralegal, says through the interpreter. Sabah’s body
  stiffens, her expression suspended between grimace and complete loss.
  
  Master Sgt. Troy Baylis then comes from the other side of the room and, after
  getting a signature from Sabah, begins to count the money onto the desk: $1,000
  U.S. — in stacked $50 bills. Sabah takes the money and shuffles out of the
  trailer office.
  
  Her son, Mohamed, in his mid-20s, was from nearby Albu Hisma, in Salah ad-Din
  Province, about an hour north of Baghdad. Mohamed had been a member of the Sons
  of Iraq (SOI), a group of local, armed civilians also known as Concerned Local
  Citizens, who are paid by the U.S. military to guard checkpoints in problem
  areas around Iraq, mostly within the Sunni Triangle northwest of Baghdad.
  
  Army reports said Mohamed was guarding a rooftop when U.S. Apache helicopters
  saw an armed man who was not supposed to be stationed there. Pilots tried to
  communicate to him via radio to put his gun down, but when he did not, the
  Apaches opened fire, killing Mohamed instantly. The pilots later said they had
  seen the colored flares of tracer bullets fired at them.
  
  Once U.S. forces realized they had killed a Son of Iraq, they went to Mohamed’s
  house to make a condolence payment. According to Fondow, who investigates local
  Iraqi combat damage claims under the watch of the 2nd Battalion 320th Field
  Artillery Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, Mohamed’s uncle and cousin
  convinced the soldiers that the two of them were responsible for supporting his
  orphaned children. They accepted the Army’s condolence payment and promptly
  disappeared.
  
  This betrayal left Sabah with $1,000 instead of the $2,500 typically paid in
  condolence to families of Iraqi civilians who are killed during combat operations.
  
  The amount seems minuscule by U.S. standards, but a non-Westerner employed on
  base often earns between $12 to $18 a day, according to Sgt. Erin Murphy, a
  paralegal for the 316th Expeditionary Sustainment Command. A payment of $2,500
  is equivalent to a year’s income, she says.
  
  Iraq’s 2007 per capita gross domestic product (GDP) was approximately $3,600,
  according to the CIA World Fact Book. But with unemployment hovering between 20
  percent to 30 percent, the yearly income of a subsistence-level farmer in Albu
  Hishma could be substantially less.
  
  “I feel if coalition forces are at fault, we should pay them,” Fondow says. “If
  we don’t pay them, what are they going to do?”
  
  Fondow normally makes two to three accidental death payments per month in this
  mixed Sunni-Shiite area around the city of Balad, which has recently seen
  hundreds of men with insurgent histories enter reconciliation agreements with
  U.S. troops. According to the terms, if the men lay down their arms and agree to
  appear before an Iraqi judge, U.S. forces agree to stop actively hunting them.
  
  A small history of payments
  “Soldiers who deploy want to feel that they are making a difference,” Capt.
  Wjociech Kornacki, Judge Advocate for 1st Armored Division chief of foreign
  claims, says, “and making payments for claims makes you feel that way.” Many of
  those same families who received the payment will come back to report on
  insurgent recruiting efforts, he added.
  
  But “each unit handles claims differently,” Fondow says. “We’re high on morale,
  but all it takes is to lose one solider to change the view,” implying that the
  level of enemy attacks influences how these discretionary payments are made.
  
  The conservative total death toll for Iraqi civilians in this war is reported to
  be between 84,050 and 91,713, according to IraqiBodyCount.org, a public site
  that has counted media reports of violent non-combatant deaths in Iraq since the
  2003 invasion. The British journal Lancet estimates the civilian death toll to
  be in the hundreds of thousands.
  
  If an innocent civilian is killed, a Commander’s Emergency Relief Program (CERP)
  payment can be made as a condolence from U.S. forces.
  
  The need for CERP began shortly after the 2003 invasion, when commanders
  realized they had no recourse for damages caused during combat missions, which
  are not covered under the Foreign Claims Act, says Captain Kornacki. According
  to Kornacki, the Foreign Claims Act covers only non-combat-related damages. For
  example if an Army jeep not on a combat patrol, runs into a civilian’s car, the
  car owner can be paid under the Foreign Claims Act.
  
  In April 2003, soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division recovered a total of $650
  million that had been hidden in panic by Saddam Hussein’s regime, the Los
  Angeles Times reported. The discovery became the seed money for various
  reconstruction projects during the initial phases of the war.
  
  Congress later approved the first $180 million to help fund CERP, according to
  the Joint Force Quarterly. (Congressional funding has increased since, including
  $500 million in 2004.) In the National Defense Authorization Act for 2008,
  Congress allocated $977,441,000 for CERP.
  
  Such payments to victims’ families are not an admission of liability, says
  Kornacki, which could potentially open the U.S. military to lawsuits from
  foreign nationals. Instead, the military calls them “good will payments,” and in
  a war against an enemy that has been known to pay civilians less than $100 to
  plant a roadside bomb, a CERP payment could counter such insurgent enticements,
  he says.
  
  Respect and sympathy’
  When Maj. Gen. David Petraeus was still commander of the 101st Brigade in Mosul,
  he used millions in CERP funds for much publicized rebuilding of schools and
  hospitals. “Money is the most powerful weapon we have,” Petraeus said at the time.
  
  In Iraq, condolence payments are a cultural norm, says Kornacki. When a car
  collision results in a death, for example, two sheiks will negotiate a nominal
  payment for funeral expenses that the party at fault will pay.
  
  Osman Abdel Karim Hussein, 36, mayor of Adwar — a small city in central Iraq,
  about 10 miles south of Tikrit — is from a prominent tribal family in Salah
  ad-Din. He says tribal law traditionally arbitrates all conflicts before Iraqi
  law enforcement or courts are involved.
  
  In the U.S. program, when soldiers kick in the wrong door or shoot the wrong
  person, they leave a claim card for damages, Fondow says. Local sheiks often
  provide background information as to the character and allegiance of those
  making the claims.
  
  “If it’s not a ‘target hit,’ more than likely it will be a condolence payment,”
  Fondow says. “If family members were not on the ‘black list’ those wanted by
  coalition forces, it will be a payment.”
  
  Any payment must follow the chain of command to the brigade commander. If the
  paralegal recommends a payment of more than $2,500 — in the case of multiple
  da
tppiotr Re: Waszyngton: sankcje na Zimbabwe w ciągu dwóch 30.06.08, 18:27

Zimbabwe has a long tradition of mining, going back before European colonization. The country contains a wide range of minerals, especially in and around the Great Dyke. Zimbabwe’s chief mineral exports include gold, nickel, and chromite. Coal is an important power source.
abhaod duchowy brat fiutina utrzyma się przy władzy, 30.06.08, 18:32

dzięki pomocy bratniej dyktatury rosyjskiej, ceny bogactw naturalnych pozostaną
nadal dla niej korzystne
www.medcartoons.ru/wall/putin.JPG
warmi2 Re: Waszyngton: sankcje na Zimbabwe w ciągu dwóch 30.06.08, 20:05

Stawanie po stronie rzezimieszki ... niczego innego bym sie od
ciebie nie spodziewal.

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