"There is such a thirst for gain [among military suppliers]...that it is enough to make one curse their own Species, for possessing so little virtue and patriotism." -- President George Washington, 1778
Below are links to and some text about and from:
Southern Exposure Magazine's efforts to stop
war profiteering, followed by links to other articles on war profiteering
Alternet post introducing Southern Exposure's articles
War profiteering exposed
The magazine
Southern Exposure has put together a special issue scrutinizing the role of companies like Halliburton in the Iraq campaign. Their conclusion? "A team of investigative reporters in Iraq have found a pattern of waste, fraud and abuse among U.S. companies receiving multi-billion-dollar 'reconstruction' contracts in the country, including massive over-charges for projects; shoddy work or a failure to complete tasks; and ignoring local experts who contend they could do the job better and cheaper."
The investigative team spent three weeks in Iraq visiting project sites, analyzing contracts, and interviewing dozens of administrators, contract workers, and U.S. officials. Among the findings:
* Despite over eight months of work and billions of dollars spent, key pieces of Iraq's infrastructure - power plants, telephone exchanges, and sewage and sanitation systems - have either not been repaired, or have been fixed so poorly that they don't function.
* San Francisco-based Bechtel has been given tens of millions to repair Iraq's schools. Yet many haven't been touched, and several schools that Bechtel claims to have repaired are in shambles. One "repaired" school was overflowing with unflushed sewage; a teacher at the school also reported that "the American contractors took away our Japanese fans and replaced them with Syrian fans that don't work" - billing the U.S. government for the work.
* Inflated overhead costs and a byzantine maze of sub-contracts have left little money for the everyday workers carrying out projects. In one contract for police operations, Iraqi guards received only 10% of the money allotted for their salaries; Indian cooks for Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root reported making just three dollars a day. The report also reveals further details of Halliburton's contracts: for example, that of Halliburton's $2.2 billion in contracts, only about 10% has gone to meeting community needs - the rest being spent on servicing U.S. troops and rebuilding oil pipelines. Halliburton has also spent over $40 million in the unsuccessful search for weapons of mass destruction.
Below are some excerpts from Southern Exposure's site. I highly recommend reading the articles in their entirety on that site.
MAKING A KILLING: The New War Profiteers: By Chris Kromm
Read their excellent files on Bechtel, Halliburton, MCI/Worldcom:
Join the Campaign to STOP THE WAR PROFITEERS AND END THE CORPORATE INVASION OF IRAQ
Other War Profiteering Stories
War Propels Exxon Profits to Record $7 Billion by Terry Macalister
ExxonMobil, the world's biggest privately owned oil group and a target of street protesters, celebrated May Day by reporting the largest quarterly corporate profits in history at $7.04bn (£4.4bn).
The company, whose petrol stations around Europe are subject to boycotts by StopEsso campaigners angry about its stance on global warming, made £2.2m an hour - double that of rival BP.
Exxon Mobil, Shell pump out big profits By DAVID KOENIG
Falling Profits and War: Author: Wadi'h Halabi, "People Before Profits"
Falling profits impel capitalists to war as surely as thirst drives donkeys to water. 2001 witnessed a 54 percent drop in the profits of the Fortune "Global 500," the world's 500 largest corporations.
Who Profits From War?"
"A Pentagon adviser, Richard Perle, briefed an investment seminar on ways to profit from conflicts in Iraq and North Korea just weeks after he received a top-secret government document on the crises in the two countries. The revelation yesterday provoked new concerns about conflicts of interest. Mr Perle also serves on the boards of several defence contractors."