I heard yesterday that the US Army now has people cruising around villages in rural areas of Iraq with sacks full of money. They are handing out up to $2500 in compensation for civilian deaths, and up to $15,000 to each village for collateral damage to property. Each payout is accompanied by a speech by an officer telling how its by way of an apology from the US.
While apologies and compensation are better than nothing, wouldn't it have been better to avoid the deaths in the first place? $2,500 is a pitiful amount compared to the $1.5 million or more 9/11 victims received, and the $10,000 per man woman and child the US has, or will soon have spent on the Iraq invasion? They could have just dropped that much from the sky instead of invading, it would probably have been destabilizing enough to oust Saddam without a shot fired.
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