U.S. Paying Millions in Cash to Families of ‘Collateral Damage’
The Pentagon has a practice called “condolence payments.” This is when U.S. commanders pay surviving family members thousands of dollars for every civilian they’ve killed. After a night operation in 2009 killed 15 civilians, U.S. commanders visited the village and handed out $40,000 in cash - $2,500 for each death, $500 for two wounded men and $1,500 for village repairs.
In this cynical policy, the Pentagon has doled out $688,000 in condolence and $6.8 million in battle repair funds in Afghanistan in the first half of fiscal 2011. Millions of dollars in these payments have been made since 2005, in a sign of the high rate of civilian casualties U.S. forces produce and of the sick nature of a nation paying reparations for its bloodshed which is deliberately continued.
Read the whole report at the Army Times.
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curmudgeonvt
January 24th, 2012 at 6:47 am
It's no wonder the Pentagon does not include the expense of executing the wars on their budget and balance sheets. I think it time the Pentagon actually itemize what it is costing the US taxpayer for all this good will and enduring freedom we're spreading across the world.
Maybe once the American taxpayer sees exactly what we're spending and realize what we could be doing here at home with the money, maybe then they'll understand why we can no longer continue to do this.
Ubikwitus
January 24th, 2012 at 7:50 am
This evidence of war crimes against civilians is as valid as any eye witness testimony.
Stop Aerial Hunting
January 24th, 2012 at 10:54 am
It's kind of hard to begrudge these payments.
fenistol
January 24th, 2012 at 4:25 pm
The only way this policy could be more cynical is if it were performed by an ATM-equipped drone.
thedissenter
January 24th, 2012 at 9:28 pm
Millions? I seriously doubt it. They only pay – at most – $3,000 for each one of their victims when the families sue them and make a big racket. Otherwise, it's just "oops" – at most. Unless, of course, they've been made to pay for each and every single one of the civilians they've slaughtered, something I seriously doubt.