WAR DAMAGES The Dunning of Saddam Begins

Thousands of companies and individuals lost billions of dollars in Iraq's devastation of Kuwait, and now they'd like to get some of it back. Do they stand a chance? The cumbersome legal machinery is creaking into motion, and many victims, ranging from multinational corporations to families seeking modest payments for homes looted and destroyed, may well receive compensation -- eventually. Before legal action can begin, the U.N. must settle details of a special compensation fund to be financed out of a still unfixed percentage of Iraq's future oil revenues. The U.N. model may be the U.S-Iran claims tribunal set up in 1981. After 10 years, some $5 billion has been paid out; 162 large private claims and much larger government claims remain in the mill. It works, but slowly.

The U.S. Treasury Department has registered an estimated 1,000 American claims against Iraq. One firm, Consarc Corp., a New Jersey furnace manufacturer, sued in a U.S. district court and was awarded $64 million in damages. Collecting is something else. Iraq's U.S. assets are estimated at $1 billion to $1.5 billion, and while Iraq may not take that money away, neither is the country being forced to pay it to victims, at least not yet. Says Treasury spokeswoman Barbara Clay: "We prefer to freeze, not seize." Bottom line: the books won't be closed on this one for a long time.