What's an Iraqi Life Worth? by Andrew J. Bacevich (washingtonpost.com, 7/7/06), discusses the alarmingly, anti-Iraqi remarks that various U.S. officials have made in the course of 'liberating' the Iraqi people, and points out that policies that cost Iraqi lives do not aid the U.S.' mission there.

For all the talk of Iraq being a sovereign nation, foreign occupiers are the ones deciding what an Iraqi life is worth.

Yes, sometimes he means that literally, as in when civilians are 'accidentally' killed, and the U.S. pays some form of cash compensation.