Iraqi Compensation & Contracters

MWC News recently published an article highlighting compensation paid to the families of killed Iraqis. According to the Human Rights Watch, only around a third of victim's families have been compensated. What I really want to talk about though are the contractors.

It seems that if an Iraqi is killed by a contractor, their family will not receive compensation since that contractor isn't part of the military:

"Human Rights Watch is also concerned by the air of impunity surrounding civilian contractors employed by the US government. Although the claims process covers Department of Defense employees, claims against contractors are denied out of hand on the grounds that they 'are not government employees.'

'It's shocking that the US government doesn't compensate the deaths of civilians caused by their hired guns,' Garlasco said. 'Contractors operating under the US military umbrella, as well as soldiers, should be held accountable when they kill Iraqi civilians without any justification.'"

The problem with contractors is precisely that they aren't "government employees". They don't have the same rules. Another problem is that they cost exorbitant amounts of money.

There's a wonderful documentary directed by Robert Greenwald called Iraq for Sale, which I highly recommend.