Blackwater to Iraqis: Your lives are worth $100K, take it or leave it

By GottaLaff

It's nice to know Blackwater values life so highly. And here I thought a human being's life was worth only a couple of hundred dollars. What was I thinking?

The security firm formerly known as Blackwater has reached a settlement in seven civil lawsuits filed against it by families of Iraqis killed during what the suits called "senseless slaughter" by company guards. [...]

In Baghdad on Thursday, a shooting victim who has not settled said he still wanted the guards prosecuted in criminal court.

"Iraqi blood is not that cheap," said Mehdi Abu Zaman, 45, who said he lost his sight after being shot. "The civil suit is not enough. There is no justification for this. If they gave me all the money in the world, my vision will not come back."

Another wounded man, Sami Hawas Hamoud Abu Iz, told the Associated Press that the company had offered $100,000 to each family of a person who died and $30,000 to those wounded. He said plaintiffs' lawyers told victims they might not receive anything if they did not agree to a settlement.

Brown lives are on special, apparently. As for wounded brown people? They're worth less than a Ford Taurus.

That Xe, er, Blackwater, er, Xe... they just ooze generosity and love of their fellow man:

The civil suits alleged that Blackwater "fostered a culture of lawlessness amongst its employees, encouraging them to act in the company's financial interests at the expense of innocent human life."

The suits alleged that some of the "shooters," as the plaintiffs said the guards were known, were "chemically influenced by steroids and other judgment-altering substances."

The suits accused Prince of making "a series of verbal and written statements that evidenced his support of the wanton killing of those of the Islamic faith."

Their consistent high regard for human life is illustrated here, too, via Jeremy Scahill.

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