Where is the outrage? The redumblicans for months claimed that the 30,000
figure was false. After Bush acknowledged that at least 30,000 have died
where is the outrage? Redumblicans claimed this number was just part of a
liberal conspiracy. So is Bush part of the conspiracy?

Leahy seeks reckoning for dead civilians

By EVAN LEHMANN
Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon has long avoided tracking civilian casualties in
war -- or has it?
A week after President Bush estimated that 30,000 Iraqi civilians have died
in the war, the Senate is debating a defense policy bill carrying a
provision that would require the Pentagon to brief Congress on the extent it
records civilian deaths.

The provision, introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., asks whether
"records of civilian casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq are kept by United
States Armed Forces."

It also asks if the records differentiate between fatalities and injuries,
and whether any "compensation or assistance was provided to the victim or
the victim's family."

The provision, as Leahy sees it, is the first step in establishing a
permanent program in which the United States would compensate victims of an
errant bomb, a stray bullet or a misguided missile.

"Much as you hate to admit, accidents happen in wars," Leahy told the
Reformer in the Capitol Tuesday. "People are damaged by mistakes or they're
near where an accident takes place. Bombs go off; they're hurt.

"We can do the humanitarian thing and help those people," he added.

The effort is not a new one to Leahy.

In 2003, Leahy adopted an effort on Capitol Hill to funnel $20 million into
a Civilian Victims Assistance program. The program to date has expended $8
million on 622 projects in Iraq, like repairing homes destroyed
inadvertently by U.S. forces, providing medical care and building schools.

The program was renamed this year after Marla Ruzicka -- the 28-year-old
activist who caught Leahy's attention and spurred him to support the
program. She died in Iraq when a nearby car exploded.

"There'd be a lot more done had she not been killed," Leahy said of
humanitarian programs in Iraq.

But the Marla Ruzicka Iraqi War Victims Fund does not compensate victims or
their families with cash. A different program -- the Commanders Emergency
Response Program -- provides $2,500 to injured Iraqis or the families of
civilians killed by American forces.

But the compensation is administered inconsistently by military commanders
on the ground, and without the predictability offered by legislation,
according to Tim Rieser, Leahy's senior foreign policy aide.

And though Leahy said his future legislation offering compensation would not
dictate a monetary amount -- because, he said, the needs of victims and
their families will vary depending on the incident and the country in which
it occurred -- it seems that $2,500 is not enough.

"It is impossible to put a dollar value on a person's life," Rieser said.
"No amount is enough. But a condolence payment is important because it
acknowledges the loss."

The Senate is expected to vote on the defense policy bill this week. If it
passes with the provision in tact, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld would
have 90 days to submit a report to the committees on armed services and
appropriations revealing the extent to which the Pentagon tracks casualties.

Rieser said it's possible the Pentagon requires troops to fill out incident
reports when they kill or injure combatants. The records could illuminate
civilian casualties as well, he said.

But it's unclear how willing the White House would be toward revealing
civilian casualties over the long run -- a potentially potent argument for
war critics.

Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, fended off pointed questions
from a reporter Tuesday who invoked Bush's estimate of 30,000 civilian
casualties before asking, "I want to know why we're still there killing
people, when we went in by mistake."

McClellan responded, "We are liberating people and freeing people to live in
a democracy."

Leahy, a critic of the Iraq war, said the program could help change the way
America is perceived by Iraqis and others around the world. He noted that
Americans "opened our wallets and hearts" to foreign victims of earthquakes
and the Asian tsunami a year ago.

"We are good people," Leahy said. "Let us help people who injured by the
war -- innocent bystanders, innocent civilians' families -- let's try to
help them."

http://www.reformer.com/Stories/0,1413,102~8860~3174927,00.html