Iraq Pays Reparations to Toys 'R Us, KFC????

Who was it that said The business of war is business?

A jaw-dropping post from TGW has got to be the most mind-numbing, irrational and most unbelievable thing I've read in a long time in the fiasco that is the war in Iraq -- the post is about the war reparations which have been awarded to corporations like Toys 'R Us and KFC:

"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. One of the biggest winners has been Texaco, which was awarded $505m in 1999. According to a UNCC spokesperson, only 12% of that reparation award has been paid, which means hundreds of millions more will have to come out of the coffers of post-Saddam Iraq."

Beyond bizarre.