Robert Greenwald appeared on
Real Time with Bill Maher last night to discuss his new documentary,
Iraq for Sale, which is about how corporations have been put in charge of Iraqi reconstruction and services previously run by our military. He mentioned how Halliburton is charging $45 for a six-pack of Coca-Cola when it feeds our troops and how their overpriced services are being put in charge of stuff like cleaning toilets, which had previously been done by the soldiers themselves. He also mentioned that such military responsibilities as interrogations at Abu Gahrib have been outsourced to private contractors, thus freeing them from legal oversight, since international laws covering war crimes do not apply to such private entities.
When I heard about this film and these issues, I wasn't sure who I was more pissed at: Republicans who enabled this or Democrats who have raised nary a peep about this, thus not only foresaking a powerful issue handed to them on a silver platter but foresaking their role as the loyal opposition and protecting our country from these irresponsible thieves.
Before I discuss the degree to which war profiteering has gotten out of hand during this war, I want to remind everyone that government oversite committees that insure against such profiteering are nothing new. During WWII, Harry S Truman headed up the
Truman Commission, which saved BILLIONS of dollars and preserved the publics trust in the conduct of the war, according to an on-line article from
Iraq Insider that calls for an Iraqi version of the Truman Commission:
During World War II, Harry Truman, a then-obscure senator from Missouri, was placed in charge of a commission responsible for monitoring the war manufacturing effort. By 1943, the so-called Truman Commission had released 21 separate reports and saved American taxpayers an estimated $15 billion. Truman's leadership as a corruption fighter propelled him into the national consciousness and secured his spot on the 1944 presidential ticket.
Now remember, Truman was a Democrat, as was FDR and the majority in both houses of Congress back then. And yet, even with one party rule, this country was able to conduct a war without bilking the taxpayers and not allowing greedy corporations to conduct business merely for profit and with no conscience for the consequence for their misconduct. (And before I proceed, let me emphasize that I am a proud capitalist. Nevertheless, I am a patriotic American who loves my country, believes in good government and the social good. Therefore, I will not be cowed into being painted as some commie symp just because I am outraged by corporations who abuse a serious, deadly situation for their own gain.)
I have compiled a number of on-line videos and articles about Greenwald's film. After each link, I'll provide the most salient points from each clip.
A segment on Countdown with Keith Olbermann
- During a Senate Committe hearing aranged by North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan, a Kellogg, Brown and Root trucker who survived a convoy massacre in Iraq revealed a KBR form he was given to sign that read:
...in cosideration for an application for a Defense of Freedom Medal...I hereby release, acquite, and discharge [KBR]...with respect to and from any and all claims...I may have against any of them.
- Morale within the military is getting hurt by these profiteers because these private contractors are working along side military personel and yet they make more than three or four times as our soldiers to do the exact same job, such as linguists -- all of which is still paid by our government but through different avenues.
- A Halliburton employee tried to inform the troops that they might have been exposed to contaminated water but was informed "the military was none of [his] concern. [Halliburton] was only concerned with their profits and not concerned with how it effected the troops. Of the 67 water treatment plants, 63 were providing unsafe water."
- David Lesar, the head of Halliburton and a former accountant for Enron, has made over $100 million since the Iraq War began.
- The head of
CACI, which provided interrogators at Abu Gahrib, made $20 million.
- The reason more investigations have not been conducted against these companies is because they hire former government officials who can use their connections in government to squash any serious inquiries.
- Only promising note: CA COngressman Henry Waxman will have subpoena power to investigate these matters once Democrats take charge of the House.
Conscious Media Network interview with Greenwald (Nearly 20 minutes long)
- Troops sometimes charged $100 to have a load of laundry cleaned.
- Cost-plus contracts are what create such exorbitant prices. With cost-plus contracts, companies like Halliburton are paid for the cost of doing the service, plus a profit that is based on the size of the contract. Which means, the more the company spends, the more these companies make. So the incentive is to spend exhorbitantly since all costs will be covered by the government.
- Greenwald talks about an incident called the "Friday Massacre" in which truck drivers drove toward a road that was closed and marked "dangerous," but Halliburton claimed it was okay to proceed. Halliburton, of course, had incentive to encourage these trips through dangerous areas, often delivering little if any materials, because they were paid for each particular trip, no matter what the deliveries contained. Several of the drivers were killed.
ABC News clip of Iraq for Sale and an article about ABC News' report on this film
- The clip shows and the article mention the following:
Greenwald also interviewed relatives of four Blackwater Security guards who were mutilated in Fallujah in March, 2004. One mother claimed her son died because the company cut corners, failing to supply armored vehicles or maps.
"My son is not walking the earth because people he trusted and worked for did not care about him," said Donna Zovko, whose son Jerry Zovko was among the four Blackwater employees killed by insurgents in 2004.
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I'm sure many here at DailyKos have already read or heard about or even seen this film. I had not before last night. I was bowled over by what it addresses and I just can't believe that I can't recall one campaign ad that addresses this issue. Obviously the issue has been out there. Here are a few pieces I found that addresses this problem:
Tammy Duckworth and Jim Webb want to create a Truman Commission to address war-profiteering
A press release put out by Duckworth and Webb asserts the following:
This fiscal year, Congress will appropriate about $116 billion to military operations - a 72 percent increase since 2004. The monthly "burn rate" of spending in Iraq and Afghanistan will average almost $10 billion this year - an 18 percent jump from last year. Much of this amount is attributed to the Pentagon's reliance on contracted services, especially those that resulted from non-competitive bids. As an example of the wasteful spending she witnessed, Duckworth recalled that the cooks in her National Guard Unit were not allowed to cook because a Halliburton subsidiary, KBR, had received the contract to provide food at $22 a meal while paying the foreign cooks it hired less than $10 a day. Likewise, soldiers weren't allowed to sandbag their own facilities because KBR had the sandbag contract, paying Iraqi workers five or ten cents per sandbag and pocketing the rest. Duckworth pointed out that at the same time these contractors were profiting handsomely from billions in taxpayer-financed contracts, U.S. troops faced deadly shortages in body-armor and equipment. "Someone should have to answer for the disparity between what the contractors received and what our Soldiers didn't. Someone should be holding those contractors accountable," she said.
Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY-28) also calls for a Truman Commission
From a DCCC press release:
In early 2005, a report issued by the Special Inspector General for the Iraqi Reconstruction found that $9 billion spent on the Iraqi reconstruction was unaccounted for. For months before this, accusations of price gouging by Halliburton had been gaining momentum, as the public has gradually become aware that the White House-connected corporation had been overcharging the U.S. Army for gasoline in order to inflate their profits by millions of dollars. Nor has the situation improved, with recent reports showing that yet another $100 million earmarked between 2003 and 2004 for small building projects throughout Iraq is still completely unaccounted for, much of it likely lost to fraud.
"We have heard reports of payroll checks being cut for employees who didn't exist and firms being compensated for providing security for flights that never took off," Ms. Slaughter said. "We have even heard a report that a Pentagon contract for the development of bullet proof armor was given to a former Army researcher who never delivered a single piece of armor. We need to stop this destructive self-interest now."
Clair McCaskill has addressed the issue
"War profiteering is off the charts. We have people serving meals making more money than our national guardsman fighting in Iraq. That's how bad it is. We need to revive a Truman Commission for today. In the past, such commissions were critical to saving soldiers' lives, in addition to safeguarding how money was spent. It was the Truman Commission, which discovered the Navy bought costly tank lighters more likely to drown, and then recommended a contractor who built a cheaper, more effective tank lighter. We have spent over $350 billion right now for the war in Iraq. We deserve to have a fair accounting of how that money has been used."
Despite people having addressed this issue this cycle, I have yet to see an political commercial that has addresed it. Just imagine the script for such an ad:
"Your tax dollars wasted: $45 for a six pack of Coca-Cola. $100 to clean a load of laundry. CEOs making $20 million and $100 million off the Iraqi war. Why has our government not been looking into these unaccountable companies who are bilking the government through no bid contracts? Something has to change..."
I'm sure an advertising professional could get this script right, but I think you get what I mean. We only have three days left but I would hope we could make this a more visible issue in the sprint up until election day.