How Much Is an Iraqi Life Worth to the US?

Okay, it's a trick question...we already know, for all intents and purposes, that the answer is zero. But what if the military brass, faced with mounting public opposition and an Abu Ghraib image problem, is forced to throw a sacrificial lamb into the prison yard to give the appearance of humanity?

Then the answer becomes a less-than-whopping $6000, the amount a US officer was fined for the "negligent homicide" of Major General Abed Hamed Mowhoush - "negligent," in this context, meaning that US Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr. fully intended to tie up Mowhoush, place him into a sleeping bag, and sit on him, but apparently couldn't have reasonably expected that this might be a death-inducing measure. Why do plastic bags have suffocation warnings on them again?

Of course, don't expect those who order the carrying out of such techniques to ever see the inside of a courtroom.