Fed: Government pays $260,000 to Iraqis in compo

AAP General News (Australia)
04-08-2007
Fed: Government pays $260,000 to Iraqis in compo

SYDNEY, April 8 AAP - The federal government has paid over $260,000 to Iraqis as compensation
for claims of personal harm or hardship caused by Australian soldiers.

At least 45 payments of up to $90,000 have been made, usually in wads of US dollars,
to Iraqi civilians in so-called act of grace payments by the Defence Department, News
Limited reports.

A total of $266,681 has been paid out of respect of what the defence department describes
as an "eye-for-an-eye culture" since the Australian Defence Force began operations in
Iraq.

There were 37 individual payments for damage and injuries resulting from car accidents,
ranging from $69 to $9,390. Other payments related to crop damage and shootings.

The single biggest payment, for $89,100, has not been explained although it is thought
to have been paid to the family of a bodyguard of Iraqi Trade Minister Abdul Falah al-Sudani.

Another payment of $53,128 has been confirmed as going to the widow of an Iraqi man
shot during an incident involving the Australian Security Detachment in Baghdad.

Heavily censored documents obtained by the newspaper under Freedom of Information laws
show a lawyer for the woman approached the Australian Embassy in the Iraqi capital.

A request for approval for one of the payments by the Department of Defence to the
Department of Finance and Administration states "an operational benefit" flows from making
such payments.

"Iraq has an eye-for-an-eye culture and it is important for Australian Forces to be
seen as respecting this way of life," it said.

AAP sk/mss

KEYWORD: IRAQ AUST COMPENSATION

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