Judge is no stranger to false claims

[unhappycamper]

Judge is no stranger to false claims
By Ashley Rowland, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, February 24, 2009

CAMP KOREAN VILLAGE, Iraq — Ask Capt. Justin Martell for money, and odds are slim he’ll pay out.

About 10-to-1, to be precise.

Martell, a judge advocate at Camp Korean Village, has reviewed about 100 requests for payment of damages caused by coalition troops in his five months at this tiny base in western Iraq. So far, he has approved only 12. Most of those were for rent, which often ammounts to damages on buildings seized and used by U.S. forces during military operations in western Anbar province.

But many of the Iraqis who come to him want money for incidents that happened several years ago — if they happened at all.

"A lot of it is nonsense," said Martell, a Marine reservist and a civilian attorney for the U.S. Office of Special Counsel in Washington, D.C. "A lot of it is people specifically coming to me with claims that have previously been paid, or are absolute, complete nonsense."


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60926