Iraqi group demands compensation from US for 2003 invasion

An Iraqi lobby group has called on the Iraqi parliament to put laws in force that would allow families of the victims of the US-led invasion of Iraq to seek compensation for damages inflicted during the conflict.

The Arab Project in Iraq held a press conference on Saturday to outline its proposed law, which mirrors a recently passed US bill allowing 9/11 victims to sue the kingdom.

"We are asking members of parliament to enact a law… that would allow victims of the US invasion to make compensation claims against the US," leader of the lobby group, Najeh al-Meezan, said in a press conference on Friday.

Meezan added that Iraqis deserved the same treatment as US attack survivors and relatives of terrorism victims, who can now pursue cases against foreign governments in US federal court under the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act [JASTA].

He also urged for investigations into the killings of civilians, damages to property and torture violations carried out by US forces in Iraq during the eight-year occupation.

Estimates of the number of deaths in Iraq as a direct result the US invasion between 2003-2006 ranges from 640,000 by the Lancet surveys of Iraq war casualties, to one million dead, according to others.

Last week, US Congress rejected President Obama's veto of JASTA in a 97-1 vote, followed a short time later by the House of Representatives, which knocked it down with a 348-77 vote.

Obama called the vote a "dangerous precedent."

Saudi Arabia warned that "disastrous consequences" could come after the US passed the law, in a major spike in tension between the longstanding allies.

A Saudi foreign ministry source called on the US Congress "to take the necessary measures to counter the disastrous and dangerous consequences" of the law.

Analysts have warned that Saudi Arabia could reduce valuable security and intelligence cooperation with ally Washington after the Congressional vote.

A Saudi newspaper sent a message to US lawmakers through a headline that played with the letters of "JASTA", the name of the new law.

"Just Acted Stupidly Toward Allies," Arab News said on its front page.