Why is War-Torn Iraq Giving $190,000 to Toys-R-Us?

[meganmonkey]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1328887,00.html

this is just appalling. of course, it's isn't surprising. no evidence of war feeding the corporate american coffers is surprising anymore.
are we going to start paying reparations to all the cafes and stores and citizens whose livelihood we've destroyed over the last 2 - wait - 15 years?!? how fucked up that they are being forced to pay american corporate entities who chose to do business in a risky environment. and the amounts are pretty much negligible given the size of the companies...what's $1.3 million to philip morris? an executive bonus? give me a fucking break.


excerpts:

If that seems backwards, it's because it is. Iraqis have never been awarded reparations for any of the crimes they suffered under Saddam, or the brutal sanctions regime that claimed the lives of at least half a million people, or the US-led invasion, which the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, recently called "illegal". Instead, Iraqis are still being forced to pay reparations for crimes committed by their former dictator.

Here is a small sample of who has been getting "reparation" awards from Iraq: Halliburton ($18m), Bechtel ($7m), Mobil ($2.3m), Shell ($1.6m), Nestlé ($2.6m), Pepsi ($3.8m), Philip Morris ($1.3m), Sheraton ($11m), Kentucky Fried Chicken ($321,000) and Toys R Us ($189,449). In the vast majority of cases, these corporations did not claim that Saddam's forces damaged their property in Kuwait - only that they "lost profits" or, in the case of American Express, experienced a "decline in business" because of the invasion and occupation of Kuwait.

[cheezus]

1. where is iraq getting this money to pay them?

cuz i've got this feeling...

[whistle]

2. Get plastic Air-shot AK-47's and toy assault weapons into Iraqi....

...children's hands, start the new Iraqi Youth militia movement at a very young age.