The Washington Post article “The Measure of a Life, in Dollars and Cents” says that the USA Government Accountability Office released a report last month which sets a monetary value to the life of an Iraqi who got killed “as a result of U.S. and coalition forces’ actions during combat.”
The Pentagon has set $2,500 as the highest individual sum that can be paid. Most death payments remain at that level, with a rough sliding scale of $1,000 for serious injury and $500 for property damage. Beginning in April of last year, payments of up to $10,000 were possible for “extraordinary cases” but only with a division commander’s authorization.
The report says that these are voluntary payments that are an expression of ”sympathy or remorse based on local culture and customs, but not an admission of legal liability or fault.”
The report, titled “The Department of Defense’s Use of Solatia and Condolence Payments in Iraq and Afghanistan,” offers a particularly coldblooded example of how payments are estimated, drawn from CERP’s operating procedures: “Two members of the same family are killed in a car hit by U.S. forces. The family could receive a maximum of $7,500 in CERP condolence payments ($2,500 for each death and up to $2,500 for vehicle damage).”
It is disgusting to see a government assessing the “value” of a human life. Every human being has the right to live and to be free. In fact, life is the most valuable good one has as a human being and I do not see how anybody has the right to say how much the life of another person is worth. We are all equal and having the same right to live our lives.
[via Think Progress]
The Associated Press reports that China has plans for a new generation of carrier rockets. China wants to establish itself as one of the world’s leading nations in science and technology, therefore planning to build rockets with a payload capacity large enough to launch an entire space station. It is not clear though when the rockets will be ready to be launched into space.
