Iraq compensation payments up, especially by Marines

"The 9.5 million dollars in 'condolence payments' by the Marines reflects the persistent fighting against insurgents in violent Anbar, but it also provides a reminder of the heavy toll that the conflict has taken on civilians, mostly from insurgents but also from American units," said the New York Times report, which cited Defense Department records.

The data, from a detailed Defense Department report given to Congress, do not include 38,000 dollars paid to kin of 15 Iraqis killed by marines at Haditha in November, because those deaths occurred after the end of the 2005 fiscal year September 30.

That case, in which 24 Iraqi civilians were killed, is now under investigation.

"The total does include millions paid to residents of Falluja after the marines cleared the city in block-by-block fighting in late 2004, as well as hundreds of smaller payments, from 50 to 50,000 dollars, broken by down by city and date," the Times said.

"Throughout Iraq, payments to Iraqis deemed to be noncombatants skyrocketed, going to 19.7 million dollars in the 2005 fiscal year from about five million dollars in 2004," the Times added.

Pentagon officials said the rise is due in part to a policy clarification that for the first time explicitly permitted condolence payments to be paid from funds managed in the field by US commanders, with little oversight from senior officers. Previously some units paid compensation and some had not, the report said.

"The officials and outside experts said more officers began paying restitution and more Iraqis who suffered losses began stepping forward after the ambiguity was removed.

But they added that the increase in payments, especially in areas controlled by the marines, was probably also a result of increased combat," the Times said.

For the first six months of 2006, condolence payments provided to Iraqis totaled 4.9 million dollars, it quoted a Pentagon spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Brian Maka, as saying.

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