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...