 |
| US: The Duke Stir and the Defense Contractor
by Editorial, The Washington Post
June 17th, 2005
When Mr. Cunningham wanted to sell his house in 2003, he didn't bother to put it on the market. Instead, according to reporting by Marcus Stern of Copley News Service, Mr. Cunningham -- who sits on the defense appropriations subcommittee -- turned to a defense contractor. The contractor, Mitchell Wade of MZM Inc., bought the house for $1,675,000. He then put the house back on the market, where it languished for 261 days before selling for $700,000 less than the original purchase price.
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| IRAQ: Tensions Rise Between Military and Private Security
by James Cogan, uruknet.info
June 17th, 2005
A controversy surrounding the detention of private contractors by US marines has exposed the sharp tensions being produced by the activities of thousands of mercenaries employed by the Bush administration to help enforce the occupation of Iraq. |
| US: State Department Awards Private Security Firm $1 Billion Contract
by Renae Merle, The Washington Post
June 17th, 2005
Triple Canopy, founded just two years ago, got its first contract providing security for the Coalition Provisional Authority. At its peak, the company had 1,300 security personnel in Iraq. "We were a start-up and now we're in the leagues of companies who have been doing this for years," said the initial announcement.
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| US: Second Security Contractor Alleges Marine Abuse in Iraq
by Scott Sonner, Associated Press
June 16th, 2005
the ex-Marine never imagined his captors would be U.S. troops. And he never dreamed they would hand him a Koran and a prayer rug, and treat him like the enemy for the next 72 hours. "It's just unreal," said Ginter, 30, Colorado Springs, Colo., the latest to speak out among 16 American and three Iraqi security contractors who were detained for three days in a facility with insurgents after being accused of firing shots at U.S. troops near Fallujah.
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| FIJI: Workers Warn of Contractors in Kuwait Supporting Iraq War
Fiji Times
June 15th, 2005
Fijians returning home after a stint from security jobs in Kuwait say their government must thoroughly scrutinise all contracts. "I wouldn't want our local men to face the kind of life we experienced in Kuwait as it only brings tears when we think of our family back home," Mikaele Jiuta told a press conference last night
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| US: The 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review and The Military Industrial Base
by Jack Spencer and Kathy Gudgel, The Heritage Foundation
June 14th, 2005
'In the 1980s, there were about 20 prime contractors; now there are only 4 or 5. There must be some recognition of the effect that this decline has on the supplier base and its ramifications for innovation and profitability. Furthermore, the Department of Defense apparently believes that the future of innovation resides with small companies, but this is counter to the ongoing trend—primarily mergers and acquisitions.' |
| AFGHANISTAN: Families Sue Private Contractor Over Soldiers' Deaths
by Kristin Collins, The News & Observer
June 14th, 2005
The families of three Army soldiers who died in a plane crash in Afghanistan filed a civil suit Monday against Blackwater Lodge and Training Center, a company that contracts with the military to provide staff and equipment in war zones, and several aviation companies that Blackwater owns. At least one of the companies was operating the flight that crashed into a mountainside in November, the lawsuit claims.
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| IRAQ: Unions Thwarted By All Sides
by Sue Pleming, Reuters
June 14th, 2005
Iraqi unionists said their attempts to mobilize workers were being thwarted by all sides -- from foreign companies working in Iraq to insurgents and the U.S. and Iraqi military. |
| WORLD: The Rise of the Private Security Companies
by Deborah Avant, Foreign Policy
June 13th, 2005
Today's private security companies are corporate endeavors that perform logistics support, training, security, intelligence work, risk analysis, and much more. They operate in an open market, work for many employers at once, and boast of their professionalism. |
| IRAQ: Banned Contractor Still Soliciting Iraq Deals
by Deborah Hastings, Associated Press
June 12th, 2005
Former executives of Custer Battles _ an American firm accused of stealing millions from Iraq reconstruction projects and banned from further government contracts _ have continued doing contracting work and have formed new companies to bid on such projects, The Associated Press has learned. |
| IRAQ: Who Keeps Tabs on Contractors
by Deborah Hastings, Associated Press
June 12th, 2005
There is no centralized procedure for monitoring scores of contracting firms rebuilding Iraq with U.S. funds, according to the military. The controls that do exist have been criticized for failing to keep track of millions of dollars. |
| US: Lawmaker's Real Estate Deal with Defense Contractor Questioned
by Marcus Stern, Copley News Service
June 12th, 2005
A defense contractor with ties to Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham took a $700,000 loss on the purchase of the congressman's Del Mar house while the congressman, a member of the influential defense appropriations subcommittee, was supporting the contractor's efforts to get tens of millions of dollars in contracts from the Pentagon. |
| US: Pentagon Funds Diplomacy Effort
by Renae Merle, The Washington Post
June 11th, 2005
The Pentagon awarded three contracts this week, potentially worth up to $300 million over five years, to companies it hopes will inject more creativity into its psychological operations efforts to improve foreign public opinion about the United States, particularly the military. |
| US: Military Says No Lies
by James W. Crawley, Media General News Service
June 11th, 2005
Three private contractors hired by the U.S. military to help make commercials, write news stories and produce TV shows aimed at foreign countries will tell the truth -- not lies, said the Army officer overseeing the contracts. |
| IRAQ: Security Contractor Detained
by Clint Confehr, Shelbyville Times-Gazette
June 10th, 2005
Rick Blanchard says he was one of eight former U.S. Marines among 14 security specialists in a 19-man convoy employed by Zapata Engineering of Charlotte, N.C. on May 28 in Northern Iraq where Marines intercepted them and escorted them to Camp Fallujah. |
| US: Profile of a Private Security Worker in Iraq
by Clint Confehr, Shelbyville times-Gazette
June 10th, 2005
One respects him for his work and taking responsibility for children. Another sees him like a fraternity brother. All recognized him as suffering human foibles, but acknowledged his attempts to overcome them. All but one were named by Blanchard as people who know him here. Their recollections paint a picture of a multi-faceted man with a story worth hearing.
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| IRAQ: Security Guards Sent Back to U.S.
by Sharon Behn, The Washington Times
June 10th, 2005
A North Carolina company has repatriated its private security contractors, including eight former U.S. Marines, after they were accused and detained in Iraq for purportedly shooting at American troops in Fallujah.
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| IRAQ: Shooting Inquest Resumes
by Andrew Barrow, The Scotsman
June 9th, 2005
All four worked for ArmorGroup, a security firm with 1,000 employees in Iraq protecting official buildings and companies. They were part of a civilian convoy working on the security of a reconstruction project close to Mosul when their convoy came under fire from gunmen.
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| IRAQ: U.S. Marines Detained 19 Security Contractors
by T. Christian Miller, The Los Angeles Times
June 8th, 2005
U.S. Marines forcibly detained a team of security guards working for an American engineering firm in Iraq after reportedly witnessing the contractors fire at U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians from an armed convoy. The employees have said that the incident was a case of mistaken identity. Several have accused the Marines of verbally and physically abusing them while they were in custody. |
| US: Sen. Carl Levin Says Recent Boeing Investigation Falls Short
by U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, U.S. Senate
June 7th, 2005
' believe that critical gaps in this report have placed a cloud over it and indeed over the Inspector General’s office. In my view, the report fails to discuss critical issues, omits critical material, and redacts key portions of the report in a manner that raises serious questions about whether this report meets applicable requirements for the independence of Inspectors General.' |
| US: Pentagon, Air Force Officials Criticized for Boeing Tanker Deal
by Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg
June 7th, 2005
The U.S. Defense Department's weapons buying chief and senior Air Force officials sidestepped regulations in a $23 billion proposal to lease and buy as many as 100 Boeing Co. tankers, the Pentagon's inspector general said. The acquisition process takes on added importance as the Pentagon plans to boost annual spending on new weapons by 52 percent during the next six years, as at least 13 programs move into production, to $118 billion in fiscal 2011 from $78 billion this year.
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| IRAQ: The Unquiet American and the Murder of a Whistle-Blowing Contractor
by Aram Roston, Washington Monthly
June 7th, 2005
With the exception of the submachine gun and a pistol tucked into his belt, Dale Stoffel looked the same in Baghdad as he had in Washington. His life—and death was a version, in miniature, of the American occupation itself. As a friend of his later told me, “When Stoffel first got to Iraq, it was the reaction most people have the first time they go to Vegas.” |
| IRAQ: Security Companies Lobby for Heavy Arms
by Sharon Behn, The Washington Times
June 6th, 2005
Charged with the front-line responsibility of defending infrastructure projects, homes, personnel and even U.S. military convoys, private security companies in Iraq are in some instances agitating for the right to arm themselves with heavy military-style weapons. |
| IRAQ: Training Iraqi Police is an Uphill Struggle
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com
June 5th, 2005
Facing the constant threat of ambushes, suicide bombers, improvised explosive devices and kidnappers, former Scottsdale, Arizona, Police Chief Michael Heidingsfield travels to police stations and training camps around Iraq — an itinerary, according to one of his top aides, that is more difficult now than it was when he arrived six months ago. |
| IRAQ: Filipinos Striking Against Contractors in Iraq Return to Work
The Sun Star
May 29th, 2005
Striking Filipino workers employed in a US military camp have returned to work for International (PPI) and Kellogg Brown and Root. They were protesting against the delayed payment of their wages, inadequate food, and poor accommodations, which were violations of the contract signed by the workers prior to their deployment. |
| IRAQ: Little Known about Lives and Deaths of Contractors
by Jim Krane, Associated Press
May 29th, 2005
There are 50,000 to 100,000 contractors working in Iraq, experts say, though reliable estimates are hard to come by. The number of contractors killed is just as difficult to pin down, partly because the employers often keep the deaths quiet. The U.S. military death toll, now over 1,620, would be higher but for the number of military tasks contracted out to the private sector, analysts say. |
| IRAQ: Filipino Labor Dispute 'Temporarily Resolved'
by Christine O. Avendaño and Jerome Aning, Inquirer News Service
May 28th, 2005
A labor strike by some 300 Filipinos employed at Camp Cook in the Iraqi province of Taji who were protesting poor working conditions has been "temporarily resolved.” The workers are under contract with Prime Projects International and Kellogg Brown and Root. |
| IRAQ: Labor Strike by Filipinos Working for KBR
by Veronica Uy, INQ7.net
May 27th, 2005
Some 300 Filipino workers in the sprawling American military base in Camp Cooke in Taji, Iraq went on strike because of alleged violations in their employment contracts, an e-mail message to INQ7.net disclosed. |
| IRAQ: Filipinos Wage Labor Strike Against Contractors
by Caroline Hawley , BBC News
May 27th, 2005
Around 300 Filipino workers have gone on strike at a US military base in Baghdad, apparently in a protest over their working conditions that they say include long hours and unsatisfactory food and accommodation.
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| US: Private Military Companies, Handle with Care
by Paul Marx, United States Naval Institute
May 25th, 2005
In even the most benign environment, PMCs complicate military command and control, communications, intelligence, and operational security. They make combat commanders' duties more difficult and hazardous, and they blur political-military-private sector delineations that have served nation states well for the past four hundred years. |
| US: Arms Sales Go to Dictators
by Martin Sieff, UPI
May 25th, 2005
President George W. Bush may have pledged to promote democracy around the world, but most U.S. arms sales to the developing world still go to prop up dictatorial regimes, according to a new report. |
| IRAQ: U.S. Official Defends Reconstruction Progress
Reuters
May 25th, 2005
The outgoing U.S. official overseeing rebuilding work in Iraq, said projects were moving ahead despite soaring security costs, which U.S. auditors say can chew up half of the funding. Still, Iraqis complain their electricity grid is more fragile than ever and promises to improve their daily lives have not materialized. |
| IRAQ: Attacks Increasingly Hit Private Security
by Sharon Behn, The Washington Times
May 23rd, 2005
Iraq's insurgents are conducting increasingly sophisticated and lethal attacks on the private security companies that are crucial to the nation's reconstruction and the eventual departure of U.S. troops, contractors and U.S. officials say.
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| US: Senate Committee Silence on Halliburton Bemoaned
by Emily Pierce, Roll Call
May 23rd, 2005
Called "spineless," the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has held no hearings on whether civilian contractors in Iraq — particularly Halliburton, the company Vice President Cheney used to head — have mismanaged and overcharged the government by billions of dollars, much to the consternation of Senate Democrats. |
| IRAQ: Security Concerns Delay Reconstruction of Iraq
by Paul Garwood, Associated Press
May 21st, 2005
Ceaseless attacks on contractors and facilities have also increasing security demands, with up to 16 percent of all project costs now being spent on hiring armed guards, improving site protection and providing equipment like hardened vehicles and telecommunications systems.
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| US: Statement by Triple Canopy, Inc. Regarding Employment
by Triple Canopy, Inc. (press release), PRNewswire
May 20th, 2005
"Triple Canopy stands alone in the industry in the quality of its
hiring and training practices, and we are seriously concerned that
reports from Honduras this week have misstated our standards for
recruiting employees for the services we provide in Iraq," said Joe
Mayo, Director, Public Affairs. |
| IRAQ: Rules and Cash Flew Out the Window
by T. Christian Miller, The Los Angeles Times
May 20th, 2005
More than 1,000 contracts were issued by U.S. officials in June, about double the usual number. This apparent indifference toward accountability in spending Iraqi money was common among American officials last year as they rushed to sign contracts in the waning days of U.S. control of Iraq, according to interviews and documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times. |
| UGANDA: Recruiting for Iraq
by Denis Ocwich, allAfrica.com
May 19th, 2005
In Kampala, the gates of Askar Security Services in Kamwokya are buzzing with enthusiastic young men and women signing in for deployment in Iraq. They want to take the chance of a lifetime. They cannot wait to test the waters. |
| US: Protesters get rowdy as Halliburton meets
by Purva Patel and Paige Hewitt, The Houston Chronicle
May 19th, 2005
Chief Executive Dave Lesar told reporters after the meeting that the company is still evaluating a contract to rebuild southern Iraq's oil industry. As for its larger contract to provide meals, shelter and other support to the troops, he said, "We are committed to see that contract through." |
| US: DynCorp International Again Wins Contract for Narcotics Eradication
by DynCorp International (press release), BUSINESS WIRE
May 19th, 2005
The contract, under the State Department's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, could extend from an initial base period to 10 years with incentives for strong performance. The annual contract value is $174 million, but could vary depending upon mission changes. |
| IRAQ: Translators Dying by the Dozens
by Jim Krane, Associated Press
May 19th, 2005
More than 4,000 translators work for San Diego, Calif.-based Titan, which supplies the U.S. military with Arabic- and Kurdish-speaking linguists. The company reported record revenues last month, but its death toll also is far higher than any other civilian contracting firm in Iraq, including those with many more workers. |
| US: Protesters Flank Halliburton Meeting
by Kristen Hays, Associated Press
May 18th, 2005
More than 200 protesters flanked Halliburton Co.'s annual shareholders meeting Wednesday, adding drama to an otherwise perfunctory gathering to elect directors and retain auditors. Fifteen were arrested. |
| UGANDA: Did Askar Security Lie about Recruits for Iraq?
by Opiyo Oloya, The New Vision
May 18th, 2005
'Those knowledgeable with the cut-throat, multi-billion dollar global security contractors’ business would not quickly dismiss the claims by Askar Security that it was asked by Kroll Associates and South African Coin Security to recruit thousands of Ugandans for security work in Iraq and elsewhere.' |
| IRAQ: Oil-for-Food Probes Expose Cultural Gulfs
by Peter Grier and Faye Bowers, The Christian Science Monitor
May 18th, 2005
Two years after Mr. Hussein's ouster, revelations about his alleged bribery system have developed into a full-force international financial scandal. The controversy involves both the nature of bribes and the zeal, or lack thereof, of the United Nations reaction. |
| IRAQ: US 'Backed Illegal Iraqi Oil Deals'
by Julian Borger and Jamie Wilson, The Guardian
May 17th, 2005
A report released last night by Democratic staff on a Senate investigations committee presents documentary evidence that the Bush administration was made aware of illegal oil sales and kickbacks paid to the Saddam Hussein regime but did nothing to stop them. |
| IRAQ: Security Contractors Face Great Danger
by David Levinsky, Burlington County Times
May 17th, 2005
Although private security forces often perform many of the same functions as U.S. troops, they are not governed by military rules mandating the amount of men and firepower they take along for tasks such as convoy protection, said Deborah Avant, associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University. "There are situations when they are more at risk."
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| US: Perpetual Wars Deliver Poor Returns for America
by Pierre Tristam, Daytona Beach News-Journal
May 17th, 2005
Halliburton-type profiteering only seems like a Republican specialty. But the immutable law of war is that while unlucky people die, lucky ones make a killing. That's been true whether Gengis Khan was pillaging his way across Asia, whether Abraham Lincoln was saving the Union, or George W. Bush was saving the world. Party registration has never had anything to do with it other than to give the minority party, when it exists, a chance to seem relevant. |
| U.S.A.: Galloway Calls Congressional Hearings a Diversion From Iraq
by Demian McLean, Bloomberg
May 17th, 2005
British lawmaker George Galloway told a U.S. Senate panel today that Congress was were diverting attention from the failings of U.S. contractors in Iraq, the possible misuse of money by the U.S.-led Coalition, the spreading of money around the country by U.S. military commanders without accountability, and U.S. companies such as Bayoil (USA) Inc., which is accused of paying millions of dollars to Hussein for the right to sell Iraqi oil.
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| U.S.A.: Fresh Bid in Congress to Lift Veil on Private Security Work
by August Cole, MarketWatch
May 16th, 2005
Rep. David Price, D-N.C., reintroduced the legislation that would require private security firms to disclose costs, training, insurance, pay, benefits and other details about their business. The measure encompasses companies whose workers carry weapons for their contracts or are involved in security, training and logistics duties. |
| SOUTH AFRICA: Easy money Lures Men to War-Torn Iraq
by Michael Schmidt, The Star
May 16th, 2005
Iraq is by far the most lucrative cash cow for these soldiers of fortune, with at least 30 percent of the billions of dollars the US Department of Defence spends on Iraq every month going to "private military contractors". |
| IRAQ: Oil-for-Food Benefited Russians, Report Says
by Justin Blum and Colum Lynch, The Washington Post
May 16th, 2005
Top Kremlin operatives and a flamboyant Russian politician reaped millions of dollars in profits under the U.N. oil-for-food program by selling oil that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein allowed them to buy at a deep discount, a U.S. Senate investigation has concluded. |
| IRAQ: Big Salaries Blur Risk for Hired Guns
by Matthew D. LaPlante , Salt Lake Tribune
May 15th, 2005
They're targeted for shootings, bombings - even beheadings. The cash is good. Really good. One-hundred-thousand-for-six-months-work good. Sometimes, it's even better than that. And that's nothing to scoff at for soldiers who don't make a quarter as much for a full year's work. But worth it for the job they're contracted to do?
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| IRAQ: Money Isn't Worth It for Reconstruction Workers
by Editorial, Contra Costa Times
May 13th, 2005
Working in Iraq is like playing the lottery -- only in this case, you pray that your number does not come up. According to the Web site www.icasualties.org, more than 200 foreign private contractors have lost their lives in Iraq in the past two years. Iraq is an extremely hairy place -- particularly for anyone even remotely connected with the U.S. reconstruction efforts.
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| IRAQ: Whistleblower Lawsuit Hinges on Status of Occupying Government
by MAtthew Barakat, Associated Press
May 12th, 2005
A federal judge must decide whether the United States has jurisdiction over the spending of seized Iraqi assets by the Coalition Provisional Authority. His decision weighs in the balance over a court battle accusing the private security firm, Custer Battles, of defrauding about $50 million while working in postwar Iraq. |
| UGANDA: Hundreds Seek Work as Guards in Iraq
by Daniel Wallis, Reuters
May 11th, 2005
Undeterred by the risks, up to 1,000 mostly young men marched, jogged and goose-stepped around a suburban park after a local company, Askar Security Services, said it had been hired by "international partners" to recruit Ugandans for work in Iraq and other countries. |
| SOUTH AFRICA: Dogs of War Head Home – But They'll Find It's Gone
by Jonathan Clayton, The Times
May 11th, 2005
After more than a year in a Zimbabwean jail 62 black South African mercenaries are due to be released, but freedom will be a bittersweet experience. Embarrassed by the “cesspool of mercenaries” within its midst, the South African authorities have decreed that the dust-blown town of Pomfret must be razed and the inhabitants scattered across the country.
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| IRAQ: The Shadowy World of Guns for Hire
by Michinobu Yanagisawa and Yomiuri Shimbun, Daily Yomiuri
May 10th, 2005
What private security firms in Iraq actually do has been shrouded in mystery. Some provide more than just security. Many are involved in military activities. |
| AUSTRALIA: Why Aussie Workers Keep Going Back to Iraq
by Nick Taylor, The Sunday Times
May 8th, 2005
There are actually fewer than 70 Australians registered with the Australian Embassy in Iraq, but the true number is thought to be more than 200. Many contractors arrive without telling authorities.They include aid workers, security guards, truck drivers and representatives from Australian firms, including Perth-based oil and engineering companies. Australian companies have won an estimated $1 billion in Iraq contracts.
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| U.S.A.: Pentagon Issues New Rules for Contractors on the Battlefield
by Renae Merle, The Washington Post
May 7th, 2005
One of most controversial issues the rules addressed was whether contractors should be allowed to carry weapons to protect themselves. The proposed rule said they must have the express permission of the combatant commander. Several commenters complained that this was unrealistic, while another expressed concern it would spawn "armies of mercenaries." |
| U.S.A.: The Marines Issued Sub-Standard Body Armor Found to be Flawed
by Christian Lowe, Marine Times
May 7th, 2005
The Marine Corps accepted about 19,000 Interceptor outer tactical vests after tests revealed critical, life-threatening flaws in the vests. The Corps then issued nearly 10,000 to troops. It is unclear whether any Marine casualties in Iraq have resulted from shrapnel or bullets that have penetrated vests distributed from the lots in question. The manufacturer, Point Blank Body Armor, Inc., would not provide a list of serial numbers from the lots saying that the information was “proprietary.”
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| SOUTH AFRICA: Private security, a disturbing peace of mind (Part I)
by Ellen Hollemans, Mail & Guardian Online
May 5th, 2005
They are everywhere -- ferrying money to businesses in military-style vehicles, guarding gated communities or sitting on three-legged chairs watching over suburban streets. "Private security is growing and has gone through a silent revolution. All over the world, the industry has boomed," says the chain-smoking Jenny Irish-Qhobosheane, a private security researcher. |
| U.S.A.: Last Ditch Ploy to Save C-130J
by Steve Turner, Macon Daily
May 5th, 2005
An amendment was slipped into Iraq Supplemental spending bill behind closed doors that would prohibit the Pentagon from terminating the C-130J program. The Senate is expected to vote on final passage of the bill next week.
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| IRAQ: Big staff Turnover Plagues U.S. Rebuilding
by Sue Pleming, Reuters
May 5th, 2005
Companies working in Iraq, auditors and the U.S. government office running the $18.4 billion U.S. rebuilding program all say contracting staff shortages in Baghdad are a problem as overworked employees struggle to oversee and award contracts in a stressful, hostile environment. |
| IRAQ: Oversight of Interrogation Contracts Broke Down
by Shane Harris, GovExec.com
May 4th, 2005
Numerous breakdowns in management and oversight occurred when the Interior Department, on behalf of military forces in Iraq, hired private sector interrogators to work in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison, according to a Government Accountability Office report. |
| IRAQ: Potential Waste, Fraud and Abuse Found
Reuters
May 4th, 2005
The United States has carelessly, and possibly fraudulently, handled some Iraqi money meant for rebuilding and poorly managed billions of dollars of U.S.-funded contracts, said U.S. audits. |
| IRAQ: FOX News And KBR
by Nicholas Olson , Useless-Knowledge.com
May 3rd, 2005
Some may not remember that these truck drivers and other civilian contractors in Iraq are being paid a godawful amount of money to be there. Some make nearly $10,000/month! Meanwhile, driving right next to them, is a soldier who gets a $450/month "hazard duty pay" bonus to do the same job. Some of these servicemembers are Reservist and National Guard members who have left civilian jobs that pay 3 or 4 times their military wage.
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| IRAQ: Halliburton's War Loot
by Brian Cloughley, Counterpunch
May 3rd, 2005
It was Rumsfeld, CEO of the Pentagon, who was complicit in trying to conceal shenanigans by Haliburton subsidiary, KBR, and allowing his people to censor sections of critical audit reports. |
| U.S.A.: Buddies of Hostage Call him 'Awesome'
by Matthew B. Stannard and Leslie Fulbright, The San Francisco Chronicle
May 3rd, 2005
Public records suggest Doug Wood went through several years of money troubles and tax battles. His friends wondered if that was what led him back overseas to Iraq, where contractors commonly pull down six-figure salaries in danger bonuses. "I saw real potential to work, to build things, to make things happen in Iraq," he told a newspaper. |
| US: Congressmen Asks Halliburton to Explain Discrepancies with Iraq Kickback Indictment
by Rep. Henry Waxman and Rep. Stephen Lynch , U.S. Congress
May 2nd, 2005
Halliburton representatives testified that the Halliburton employees being investigated for taking kickbacks under the LOGCAP troop support contract were not managers but were "administrative people." Yet according to the Justice Department, a Halliburton manager has now been indicted for this kickback scheme.
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| IRAQ: Corruption is the Growth Industry
by By Paul McGeough, The Age
May 2nd, 2005
Like many other Iraqis, businessmen invariably make then-and-now comparisons with Saddam Hussein. Saddam ran his own massive corruption of the UN oil-for-food program and he and his cronies regularly demanded a cut of any new business or contract. But Iraqi businessman said: "I'd say that about 10 per cent of business was corrupt under Saddam. Now it's about 95 per cent. We used to have one Saddam, now we have 25 of them." |
| IRAQ: Iraqi Army Wants to Buy Australian
by Jamie Walker, The Advertiser
April 30th, 2005
Brigadier Hussan Zuyad, chief of the Iraqi National Guard for Al Muthanna province, said the arrival of Australian troops would give him an opportunity to evaluate their equipment. "We want many things because we are really starting from the ground rebuilding our army," he said. |
| U.S.A.: Cost Climbs on Army Contract with Boeing
by Tom Bowman, Baltimore Sun
April 30th, 2005
Pentagon officials now say the costs for stricter safeguards on price information, cost accountability and conflicts of interest will cost $25 million to $75 million just three weeks after Army said there would be no "significant costs" in restructuring the contract for the Future Combat System. |
| PHILIPPINES: Pinoys Working in Iraq Not Will Not Be Evacuated
by Mayen Jaymalin, Philippine Headline News Online
April 30th, 2005
After reports of U.S. pressure, Philippines clarifies that call for Filipino workers employed by contractors to leave Iraq is only voluntary. "We are ready to implement mass repatriation if it becomes necessary, but the government is only undertaking voluntary repatriation of workers from Iraq" said Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas. |
| IRAQ: French Bank Caught Up in Oil-for-Food Probe
by David R. Sands, The Washington Times
April 29th, 2005
The chief executive officer of BNP Paribas-North America acknowledged the bank had committed "avoidable errors" in handling some of the vast program's accounts, but said an extensive internal probe had uncovered no outright fraud related to questionable transfers. |
| WORLD: Global Competition for Energy Heats Up
by Kevin G. Hall, Knight Ridder Newspapers
April 29th, 2005
For now, the United States remains well positioned, at least when it comes to energy supplies. The proven reserves in the Middle East make it the expected primary global supplier of crude oil. Iraq, where the United States has forcefully established a beachhead, has proven oil reserves of between 78 and 112 billion barrels. |
| IRAQ: Ahmad Chalabi as Acting Oil Minister Raises Concerns
by Tom Doggett, Reuters
April 28th, 2005
Chalabi is taking over the ministry at a critical time. It must make decisions on which companies get preference for oil sales, which contracts are honored and which will be renegotiated. The ministry also faces frequent sabotage against its oil pipelines. |
| U.S.A.: The Consequences Of War
by Robert Scheer, The Nation
April 28th, 2005
In 2003, conquering Iraq looked like a great package deal, what with all that oil -- second only to Saudi Arabia -- and the manufactured photo ops of cheering Iraqis. This was a win-win, as the corporate guys like to say. |
| U.S.A.: Custer Battles Fights Back
by Eddie Curran, Mobile Register
April 27th, 2005
The reputation of Custer Battles has been shattered by accusations first aired in lawsuits against it by DRC, the Alabama-based disaster services firm headed by globe-trotting former FBI agent Robert "Bob" Isakson. Now Custer Battles has filed a counterclaim -- sort of a lawsuit within a lawsuit -- accusing DRC of the similar activities, such as fraudulent billing, leveled by Isakson.
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| U.S.A.: Still Missing in Iraq
by Jeff Amy, Mobile Register
April 26th, 2005
Tim Bell's family will get together to mark his second birthday since the Mobile man disappeared in Iraq on April 9, 2004 following an attack on a truck convoy for a Halliburton subsidiary. Bell's mother and children joined a lawsuit against Halliburton in Texas state court charging that Halliburton concealed the dangers of working in Iraq. |
| GERMANY: UN Probes German Companies in Oil-for-Food Scandal
by Beat Balzli, Der Spiegel
April 25th, 2005
German industry has come under the scrutiny of UN investigators. As far back as October, UN staffers with the investigation contacted Germany's Foreign Ministry in Berlin and submitted a list containing 50 German companies. According to government sources, that list "also included some very well-known companies."
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| FIJI: Paying the Blood Price in Iraq
Fiji Times
April 23rd, 2005
Six US citizens, employed by the Blackwater Security Consulting firm, and two Filippino guards were among 11 killed when a Bulgarian commercial helicopter was shot down north of Baghdad. The deaths of at least 13 foreign security contractors in two days is the latest blow to Iraq's private security sector, which the interior ministry estimates employs 50,000 foreigners and Iraqis. |
| IRAQ: Desire for Cash Proves Lethal
by David Crawshaw, The Courier-Mail
April 23rd, 2005
An Australian man shot dead in Baghdad was well aware of the risks of working as a private security guard in Iraq, all of whom carry a $50,000 bounty on their heads, his stepmother said yesterday. |
| U.S.A.: Security Company Loses Seven in Iraq
by Emery P. Dalesio, Associated Press
April 23rd, 2005
Six Blackwater Security Consulting guards responsible for protecting U.S. diplomats were killed Thursday when their helicopter was shot down as it headed from Baghdad to Tikrit for a security detail, said company spokesman Chris Bertelli. |
| IRAQ: Securtiy Firm Falls Short on Safety Audit
by Griff Witte, The Washington Post
April 23rd, 2005
A controversial British firm, Aegis Defence Services Ltd., responsible for a sweeping $293 million contract in Iraq could not prove that employees received proper weapons training or that it had vetted Iraqi employees to ensure they did not pose a threat, according to a government audit. |
| IRAQ: Lead Investigator Says Abu Ghraib Translator Lacked Training
by Leon Worden, The Signal
April 22nd, 2005
Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba says John B. Israel was trying to do the right thing for his adopted homeland when he signed on as a translator for U.S. Army intelligence at Abu Ghraib prison in October 2003. But he received incomplete training when he got there, fell in with an interrogator who didn't adhere to strict Army policy, and gave inconsistent answers when questioned about the abuses he may have witnessed.
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| U.S.A.: Audit Criticizes Aegis Security Work in Iraq
by Sue Pleming, Reuters
April 22nd, 2005
Investigators said Aegis Defence Services could not correctly document that employees are qualified for weapons use and that many of its Iraqi workers have not been not properly screened for security jobs. Ageis had little prior experience in the Middle East before landing a $293 million contract in Iraq and its main shareholder, former British army officer Tim Spicer, has been at the center of several controversies, including an arms deal that broke a U.N. embargo in 1998 and questions raised by Irish Americans over his military record in Northern Ireland.
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| IRAQ: Abu Ghraib Translator Says He Received Little Guidance
by Leon Worden, The Signal
April 21st, 2005
Testimony by John Israel, still considered classified, paints a picture of a contract intelligence translator receiving little training in military procedures before being pushed into service and who and minded his own business to the extent that he was oblivious to the abuses that were going on around him.
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| CANADA: Our pensions are Financing Their War
by Will Offley, Seven Oaks Magazine
April 20th, 2005
Aware of it or not, the B.C. provincial government is actively involved in underwriting the illegal U.S. occupation of Iraq. Pension fund investments are include stock holdings in 39 of the top 100 Pentagon contractors, including the seven largest: Lockheed, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrup Grumman, General Dynamics, United Technologies and General Electric. |
| U.S.A.: Mobilizing Against Halliburton, the “Poster Child for War Profiteering”
by Scott Parkin interviewed by Kevin Zeese, ZNET
April 20th, 2005
As more and more revelations about contract abuse in Iraq by Halliburton come out regularly, activists in Houston are working with national groups, including Democracy Rising, to highlight corporate contract abuse by Halliburton when they hold their shareholders meeting this May 18. |
| SUDAN: Rebels Say Oil Drilling in Darfur Must Stop
by Nima Elbagir, Reuters
April 19th, 2005
Sudan on Tuesday said its ABCO corporation -- in which Swiss company Cliveden owns 37 percent -- had begun drilling for oil in Darfur, where preliminary studies showed there were "abundant" quantities of oil. "The Sudanese people have never benefited from these (oil) discoveries," said Ahmed Hussein, the London-based spokesman for the Justice and Equality Movement. "The oil must wait until a final peace deal is signed." |
| U.S.A.: Houston Oilmen Deny Paying Kickbacks to Iraq
by David Ivanovich, The Houston Chronicle
April 18th, 2005
Appearing in federal court, David B. Chalmers Jr., head of Houston-based BayOil (USA), and his business associate Ludmil Dionissiev pleaded innocent to charges they fixed oil prices and paid illegal surcharges as part of a scheme to ingratiate themselves with Saddam Hussein's regime and thereby profit from Iraqi oil sales.
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| U.S.A.: A Form of Disaster Capitalism is Reshaping Societies to Its Own Design
by Naomi Klein, The Guardian
April 18th, 2005
Fittingly, a government devoted to perpetual pre-emptive deconstruction now has a standing office of perpetual pre-emptive reconstruction. Gone are the days of waiting for wars to break out and drawing up plans to pick up the pieces. The White House now has an office that keeps "high risk" countries on a "watch list" and assembles teams made up of private companies, NGOs and members of thinktanks - some will have "pre-completed" contracts to rebuild countries that are not yet broken.
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| U.S.A.: Defense Contract Reforms Probed
by Andrea Shalal-Esa, Reuters
April 18th, 2005
Billing disputes with contractors in Iraq have sparked major questions about Pentagon reforms of the 1990s that streamlined acquisition programs but also cut down on oversight of performance and billing. |
| IRAQ: New Police Force is Largely untrained and Unreliable
BusinessWeek
April 18th, 2005
While the Iraqi army seems to be getting up to speed, the training of the 142,000-member police force is moving more slowly and fraught with bigger problems than reports by U.S. officials might suggest. The eventual goal is to have Iraqis training all of their security forces, but private contractors expect to continue working well into 2006. One small but revealing reason says one trainer: students suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. "They are the main targets of insurgents," he says. "It makes it difficult to maintain their attention span."
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| IRAQ: Rethinking Reconstruction as Grand U.S. Plan Fractures Again
by Erik Eckholm, The New York Times
April 17th, 2005
For the third time in nine months, the Bush administration has redrafted its project to rebuild Iraq, The need for the reallocation of money grew not only from unanticipated security costs but also from what many experts said were flawed assumptions by Pentagon planners and Congress when they set out to pepper Iraq with large infrastructure projects built by American companies. |
| WORLD: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism in Post-Conflict Nations
by Naomi Klein, The Nation (from the May 2, 2005 issue)
April 17th, 2005
There is no doubt that there are profits to be made in the reconstruction business. There are massive engineering and supplies contracts; “democracy building” has exploded into a $2 billion industry; and times have never been better for public-sector consultants - the private firms that advise governments on selling off their assets, often running government services themselves as subcontractors. |
| IRAQ: Two Pinoys Wounded in Baghdad Shooting
by Pia Lee-Brago, Philstar.com
April 17th, 2005
Two Filipino workers were wounded in Iraq when armed insurgents fired on the mini bus in which they were traveling between Baghdad center and the city’s airport, the Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. |
| IRAQ: Filipino Workers Urged to Leave Iraq
Associated Press
April 17th, 2005
Government officials on Sunday urged about 6,000 Filipino workers to immediately leave Iraq after a foiled kidnapping injured two Filipinos, stressing that the situation there remains very dangerous for foreign workers. |
| IRAQ: Shoot to Kill, but no Legally Considered Combatants
by Ann Scott Tyson, The Washington Post
April 16th, 2005
With more hired guns in Iraq than in any other U.S. conflict since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, armed contractors admit their role is cloudy and controversial. They're driven by money and a lust for life on the edge, but also by a self-styled altruism. They do shoot to kill, but they aren't legally considered combatants. |
| IRAQ: Contractor Says Dangerous Work Full of Risks and Rewards
by Jon Murray, The Indianapolis Star
April 16th, 2005
Private contractors in Iraq say pay can top $100,000 for a year's work. But plenty of danger is often part of the bargain. Frank Atkins, who returned home in October, said danger was part of his job as a police adviser. Sometimes, the former Marine enjoyed the thrill of fighting off insurgent attacks alongside U.S. military personnel on his convoys.
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| U.S.A.: Pentagon Defends Spicer Contract
by Tom Griffin, The Irish World
April 15th, 2005
The U.S. Government has defended its decision to award a £293 million Iraq Security contract to British mercenary Tim Spicer, in reponse to concerns raised by the family of Belfast man Peter McBride, who was shot dead by Scots Guards soldiers under Spicer’s command in 1992. |
| U.S.A.: The Oil-for-Food Scandal Seeps into Houston
by Editorial, The Houston Chronicle
April 15th, 2005
In a city that has been rocked by the Enron collapse and subsequent prosecutions, the indictment of Houston oil executive David Chalmers Jr. and a Houston-based Bulgarian oil trader serves notice that the probe of irregularities in the U.N.-supervised oil-for-food program will likely ensnare more energy industry figures before it is finished. |
| EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Death of a Mercenary and a Private Army
by Yossi Melman, Haaretz
April 15th, 2005
On March 7, 2004, the Zimbabwe police detained a chartered plane and arrested 70 of the passengers. Most of those detained said they had been hired by a security consultancy company to guard a diamond mine in Congo. A few days later, the government of Equatorial Guinea announced that its police had arrested 20 people who were the vanguard for the force that was arrested in Harare. According to the announcement, the two groups were connected and had planned to topple the regime of President Teodoro Obiang. |
| US: Oil-for-Food Scandal Broadens With New Charges
by Julia Preston and Judith Miller , The New York Times
April 14th, 2005
Federal authorities in New York today charged David B. Chalmers, a Houston oil trader, and his company, Bayoil, with making millions of dollars in illegal kickback payments to Iraq while trading oil under the program. Separate charges were brought against Tongsun Park, a South Korean businessman who figured in a Washington influence-peddling scandal some 30 years ago, accusing him of acting as an unregistered agent for Iraq in behind-the-scenes negotiations in the United States to set up and administer the program.
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| US: Pentagon's War Spending Hard to Track Says Chief Investigator
Reuters
April 13th, 2005
The Defense Department is unable to track how it spent tens of millions of dollars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the U.S. war on terrorism, Congress's top investigator said. While there was no doubt that appropriated funds were spent, "trying to figure out what they were spent on is like pulling teeth," he said, referring to an accounting effort that is under way for Congress.
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| AFGHANISTAN: Country Urged to Privatize Power
Asia Pulse
April 12th, 2005
In the thick of the reconstruction effort, American Energy Association's representative Charles Ebinger proposed, Afghanistan should jack up power tariff with a view to speeding up the revival of its economy hit by decades of war. |
| IRAQ: Congress Pressed for Hearings as Auditors Question Halliburton Billing
by Charles R. Babcock, The Washington Post
April 12th, 2005
Pentagon auditors have questioned $212.3 million of $1.69 billion that a Halliburton subsidiary charged the government over the past few years, mostly for importing fuel to Iraq under a no-bid contract. Halliburton spokeswoman Beverly Scippa said in an e-mail that the questioning by auditors "is all part of the normal contracting process." |
| COLOMBIA: Big Oil's Secret War?
by Bill Weinberg, WORLD WAR 4 REPORT: Deconstructing the War on Terrorism
April 10th, 2005
Many of the 800 U.S. military advisors in Colombia are assigned to Arauca where California-based Occidental Petroleum in a joint partnership with the Colombia state company Ecopetrol runs the main oilfield. Occidental lobbied heavily for this project, which marks a departure from the erstwhile U.S. policy of only assisting ostensible narcotics enforcement operations in Colombia.
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| IRAQ: Millions Said Going to Waste
by T. Christian Miller, The Los Angeles Times
April 10th, 2005
Iraqi officials have crippled scores of water, sewage and electrical plants refurbished with U.S. funds by failing to maintain and operate them properly, wasting millions of American taxpayer dollars in the process, according to interviews and documents. |
| FIJI: More Fijians Go to Iraq
ABC Radio Australia
April 6th, 2005
There are now 224 Fijian troops serving in Iraq, and an estimated 1,000 more are serving with private security firms holding contracts for the United States government in both Iraq and Kuwait. |
| SWEDEN: Blix Now Believes Oil Thirst fueled War in Iraq
Associated Press
April 6th, 2005
Former UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix has said he now believed the US-led invasion of Iraq was motivated by oil.
"I did not think so at first. But the US is incredibly dependent on oil," Swedish news agency TT quoted Mr Blix as saying at a security seminar in Stockholm. |
| US: Pentagon Makes Deal with Halliburton on Billing Dispute
by David Ivanovich , The Houston Chronicle
April 6th, 2005
Halliburton Co. and the U.S. Army have resolved a lengthy billing dispute over meals served to U.S. troops in Iraq and Kuwait, with the Pentagon ultimately refusing to reimburse $55 million worth of bills. At stake was $200 million in disputed costs incurred during the first nine months of the war and occupation, first in Kuwait and then in Iraq.
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| US: Army and Halliburton Settle Bill Dispute
by Russell Gold and Neil King Jr., The Wall Street Journal
April 6th, 2005
Halliburton will receive about 95% of what it billed, despite numerous concerns by Pentagon auditors that the company couldn't provide adequate documentation to justify its expenses. The favorable settlement is an indication the military brass is willing to treat Halliburton leniently since a large portion of the disputed services were performed in a theater of war. |
| IRAQ: Workers' Comp Can be Risky for Iraqis to Receive
by Larry Margasak, Associated Press
April 5th, 2005
Just like workers in the United States, Iraqis employed by U.S. contractors in their country can collect workers' compensation insurance,but in a country where anti-American insurgents can scan the mail, many Iraqis receive their benefits in blank envelopes because a check from the United States can be a ticket to a worker's execution.
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| KUWAIT: Parliament Members Complain About Halliburton Investigation
by Diana Elias , Associated Press
April 4th, 2005
The head of a five-member Kuwaiti investigative committee said the U.S. military and Halliburton have failed to fully cooperate in the investigation of a contract for fuel deliveries to Iraq. "We sent them a letter to clarify some points, but we have not received an answer for three months," he said.
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| IRAQ: Reconstruction Gathers Pace as Violence Dips
by Suleiman al-Khalidi, Reuters
April 4th, 2005
Companies with billions of dollars of U.S.-funded projects are seeking to recruit new Iraqi sub-contractors and international companies are encouraged by signs of declining violence in Iraq, but red tape and graft could offset the improved security situation, executives taking part in a huge reconstruction expo said on Monday. |
| IRAQ: Bush Aims to Remake Iraq as a Free-Market Paradise
by William O'Rourke, Chicago Sun-Times
April 3rd, 2005
When Paul Bremer, fresh from Kissinger Associates, first arrived in Iraq, the Coalition Provisional Authority made a lot of changes other than just disbanding what was left of the Iraqi army. He annulled all of Saddam Hussein's rules and regulations overseeing the Iraq economy, except one: He kept Saddam's laws banning labor unions. |
| IRAQ: From contractors to Combat
by Susan Taylor Martin, Times Senior Correspondent , St. Petersburg Times
April 3rd, 2005
But what happened to Dennis Moore and his colleagues in 18 harrowing hours underscores some of the missteps that have hindered efforts to rebuild Iraq. Since last April, instability throughout the country has forced RTI and many other contractors to scale back their work, sowing even more disillusionment among Iraqis. |
| IRAQ: Contractor Beating in Baghdad
by Joline Gutierrez Krueger, The Albuquerque Tribune
April 2nd, 2005
A 41-year-old Halliburton employee from Albuquerque is recovering from a beating in Baghdad that authorities say came not at the hands of Iraqi insurgents but from his own American co-workers. |
| U.S.A.: Senator Asks Cost of Redoing U.S. Army-Boeing Deal
by Andrea Shalal-Esa, Reuters
April 1st, 2005
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who chairs the armed services subcommittee that oversees Army and Air Force programs, said he had serious concerns about the suitability of an "other transaction authority," or OTA, as the contract vehicle for the Future Combat Systems, noting Congress approved such agreements for small research or limited prototype projects, especially those intended to attract nontraditional defense contractors. |
| U.S.A.: Under Fire, Halliburton Hails Workers' Courage
by Richard Williamson, Adweek
April 1st, 2005
Halliburton is launching an ad campaign featuring real employees as the government services contractor faces lawsuits claiming that a truck convoy ambushed by insurgents April 9, 2004, was used as a decoy to draw attention away from another group delivering fuel.
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| U.S.A.: Iraq Contract Fraud Can Be Tried in U.S. Courts
by Matt Kelley, Associated Press
April 1st, 2005
Government lawyers said a major law to fight contractor fraud applies to contracts issued by the Coalition Provisional Authority, which ran Iraq from shortly after the 2003 invasion until it handed over power to an interim Iraqi government last June. |
| WORLD: Paul Wolfowitz Played Key Role in Questionable Iraq Contract
by Charlie Cray and Jim Vallette, Halliburton Watch
March 31st, 2005
If the World Bank's board had applied the same kind of "due diligence" to Paul Wolfowitz that they purport to apply to major development projects, they might have uncovered a significant conflict-of-interest that could have led them to rethink their embrace of the architect of the Iraq war.
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| FIJI: Many have no jobs in Kuwait
Fiji Times
March 29th, 2005
Reports said that many security guards recruited from Fiji by Timoci Lolohea's Meridian Services Agency were still unemployed, two months after arriving in oil rich kingdom that borders war-torn Iraq. |
| IRAQ: Corruption Plagues School Repairs
by Beth Potter, UPI
March 29th, 2005
In many cases, contractors charge twice for work done, a member of the Sadr City Advisory Council said. Schools cost about $10,000 to fix up, according to previous information from the Ministry of Education. That price tag can include paint, new tile and plumbing work. |
| IRAQ: Civilian Contractors Shouldn’t Wear Marine Corps Uniforms
by Robert Gerbracht, Marine Corps Times
March 28th, 2005
We allow our Navy brethren who serve with us to wear our uniforms because they share our sacrifices and our values. But civilian workers do not share those sacrifices. While they may share our values, they do not serve under an oath of fidelity in harm’s way, but under a contract based on monetary gain. |
| IRAQ: U.S. Financed TV Encourages 'Lynch-Mob Justice'
by Doug Ireland, Direland
March 27th, 2005
It is the use of U.S. taxpayer dollars to fund a TV show that encourages violent, extra-judicial revenge on people who have not been tried or convicted of any crime that stands in sharp contradiction of the Bush administration's claims to have successfully exported "democracy" to Iraq. |
| IRAQ: Will the United States Join Efforts to Clamp Down on Contract Fraud?
by Michael Hirsh, Newsweek
March 27th, 2005
The administration's reluctance to prosecute has turned the Iraq occupation into a "free-fraud zone," says former CPA senior adviser Franklin Willis. After the fall of Baghdad, there was no Iraqi law because Saddam Hussein's regime was dead. But if no U.S. law applied either, then everything was permissible, says Willis. |
| IRAQ: Halliburton Convoy Unprepared for Last, Fatal Run
by T. Christian Miller, The Los Angeles Times
March 26th, 2005
The April convoy is best-known for the kidnapping and dramatic escape Mississippi dairy farmer Thomas Hamill, but details of the incident raise questions about about employer obligations. Families wonder about the repercussions if a general sent soldiers without training, weapons, armor or adequate communications into a battle zone. |
| IRAQ: Anti-Corruption Head Gets Tough on Officials
by Omar Anwar, Reuters
March 25th, 2005
The head of the country's corruption-busting body, the Commission on Public Integrity, says he is determined to clean up widespread back-handers, bribery and embezzlement that are undermining Iraq's chances of a better future. |
| U.K.: Lunch and Conversation with Alastair Morrison
by Thomas Catan, The Financial Times
March 25th, 2005
Nearly a quarter of a century ago, Morrison set up a ground-breaking company called Defence Systems Limited in 1981. DSL was a commercial success and became the template for dozens of companies set up since to provide security in the world’s hairiest areas.“I never envisaged the market growing to this size,” he says, shaking his head.
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| IRAQ: Contractor Death Toll Mounts
by Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg News
March 25th, 2005
Overall, there have been at least 273 contractor deaths, including 23 in 2003, 209 last year and 41 so far this year, according to Labor Department figures. That's over 50 percent more than the 173 deaths of U.K. and allied troops, according to figures compiled by the Brookings Institution in Washington. |
| IRAQ: Parsons has had Plenty of Contracts Worldwide, but Nothing Like This
by T. Christian Miller, The Los Angeles Times
March 24th, 2005
It is a lesson learned and relearned in Iraq. The U.S. has awarded billions of dollars' worth of work to American firms in the most ambitious rebuilding project since the Marshall Plan in Europe five decades ago. But nearly two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, the U.S. is still struggling to deliver electricity, clean water, healthcare and other services. |
| IRAQ: Payments Being Witheld on Coaltion-Awarded Contracts
by Andy Critchlow, Bloomberg News
March 22nd, 2005
Iraq's interim government is refusing to make payments on some contracts with foreign companies because they overcharged or failed to deliver everything they promised, an official said. "It's a problem all ministries are dealing with because of the lack of paperwork provided by the U.S.-led administration on contracts they signed before handing over power in June." |
| US: Former Bush Adviser 'Consulting' for Halliburton's Iraq Contractor
by Michael S. Gerber, The Washington Examiner
March 22nd, 2005
Joe Allbaugh, the Oklahoman known for his flat-top haircut and loyalty to President Bush, has a new client: Halliburton, the Houston-based company once led by Vice President Cheney. Allbaugh's wife and partner at the Allbaugh Company, Diane Allbaugh, is also listed on the registration, which was filed last week with the Senate Office of Public Records. |
| US: CIA Uses Jet Owned by Red Sox Partner
by Gordon Edes, The Boston Globe
March 21st, 2005
Phillip H. Morse, a minority partner of the Boston Red Sox, confirmed yesterday that his private jet has been chartered to the CIA and said he was aware that it had been flown to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where more than 500 terrorism suspects are held, as well as other overseas destinations. |
| US: Ex-Halliburton Executive Charged with Fraud
by John O'Connor, Associated Press
March 17th, 2005
The 10-count indictment alleges that Jeff Alex Mazon, a former procurement officer for Halliburton subsidiary KBR Inc., and Ali Hijazi, a businessman in Kuwait, developed a scheme to defraud the government out of millions of dollars by inflating bids on the tanker contract.
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| IRAQ: The U.S. Had Secret Plans for Oil
by Greg Palast, BBC
March 17th, 2005
The industry-favored plan was pushed aside by yet another secret plan, drafted just before the invasion in 2003, which called for the sell-off of all of Iraq's oil fields. The new plan, crafted by neo-conservatives intent on using Iraq's oil to destroy the OPEC cartel through massive increases in production above OPEC quotas.
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| WORLD: Explosive Growth for Private Armies
by Sam Vaknin, Ph.D., Global Politician
March 16th, 2005
Big money is involved in the private military business. Equitable Services, a security industry analyst. In 1997, Equitable Services, a security industry analyst, predicted that the international security market will mushroom from $56 billion in 1990 to $220 in 2010. This was long before the boost given to the sector by the September 11 attacks.
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| IRAQ: Halliburton Charged Too Much for Fuel, Auditors Say
by Sue Pleming, Reuters
March 15th, 2005
Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman of California, one of the congressmen who released the audit, said in a statement on Tuesday that Bush administration officials heavily edited a copy of the audit at Halliburton's request before it was sent to U.N.-mandated auditors overseeing the Development Fund for Iraq. |
| IRAQ: Plowing for Profits
by Christopher D. Cook, In These Times
March 14th, 2005
Critics of American agribusiness warn that this confluence of privatization policies, patent protections and U.S. exports is a volatile mix that could further destabilize war-ravaged Iraqi farmers. |
| IRAQ: U.S. Army Failed to Investigate Warnings of Corruption
by Ken Silverstein and T. Christian Miller, The Los Angeles Times
March 14th, 2005
Working on a $283-million arms deal, U.S. contractor Dale Stoffel, repeatedly warned that a Lebanese middleman involved in the deal might be routing kickbacks to Iraqi Defense Ministry officials. Eight days later, Stoffel was shot dead in an ambush near Baghdad. |
| U.S.A.: Ex-Halliburton Worker Sues Company for Iraq Wages
Reuters
March 12th, 2005
A former Halliburton Corp worker sued the oilfield services company this week to recover overtime wages he said were illegally withheld from the company's workers in Iraq. Sammie Curry Smith who earned a base salary of $4,004 per month, including a 55 percent premium for "danger pay", was paid only his regular wage rate for the extra hours, according to the lawsuit.
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| IRAQ: A Case Study in Postwar Chaos
by T. Christian Miller, The Los Angeles Times
March 12th, 2005
Custer Battles, a private security company, is a case study in what went wrong in the early days of the U.S. effort to rebuild Iraq, not least the haphazard and often ineffective U.S. oversight of the projects. Today, Custer Battles faces a criminal investigation, lawsuits by former employees and a federal order suspending them from new government business because of allegations of fraud.
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| U.S.A.: Report Acknowledges Peak-Oil Threat
by Adam Porter, Aljazeera.net
March 9th, 2005
A report prepared by major defense contractor Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), dismisses the power of the markets to solve any oil peak. It calls for the intervention of governments. |
| IRAN: Halliburton and Others Evade Embargo
by Lisa Myers and NBC investigative unit, NBC News
March 7th, 2005
Halliburton says the operation is entirely legal. The law allows foreign subsidiaries of U.S. corporations to do business in Iran under strict conditions. Other U.S. oil services companies, like Weatherford and Baker Hughes, also are in Iran. And foreign subsidiaries of General Electric, have sold equipment to Iran, though the company says it will make no more sales. |
| IRAQ: The Spoils of War
by Michael Shnayerson, Vanity Fair
March 7th, 2005
Halliburton subsidiary KBR got $12 billion worth of exclusive contracts for work in Iraq. But even more shocking is how KBR spent some of the money. Former U.S. Army Corps of Engineers official Bunnatine Greenhouse is blowing the whistle on the Dick Cheney–linked company's profits of war |
| IRAQ: The South African Connection
by Andy Clarno and Salim Vally, ZNET
March 6th, 2005
According to a recent United Nations report, South Africa is among the top three suppliers of personnel for private military companies operating in Iraq next to the US and the UK. At least 10 South African based companies have been sending people to Iraq. Most of those recruited operate as drivers and bodyguards, protecting supply routes and valuable resources. |
| IRAQ: Men 'Not Up to the Job' Risk Their Lives as Guards
by Martin Shipton, Western Mail
March 5th, 2005
Unemployed men with little or no experience are being lured by American firms to risk their lives in Iraq as private security contractors, according to a security consultant. People are being offered between $8,000 and $10,000 a month tax free to go out there. It's now got to the point where some firms are taking on inexperienced people instead of those they should be employing," he said. "They can get away with paying them less." |
| South Africa: 'Mercenary Town' to be Razed
by Marléne Burger, Mail & Guardian Online
March 4th, 2005
South Africa's forced removal of the Pomfret community is seen by observers as an attempt to break up the “ready-made” army of unemployed war vets who have been working in Iraq and elsewhere despite stringent mercenary prohibitions. |
| IRAQ: Cashing in on Security Contracts
by Jason McLure, Legal Times
March 4th, 2005
Documents unearthed as part of a whistleblower suit against private security company, Custer Battles, reveal the extent to which the defense contractor is accused of gouging the Coalition Provisional Authority, which governed Iraq following the U.S. invasion of the country in 2003.
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| IRAQ: Contracting Firms Tap Latin Americans for Workers
by Danna Harman, The Christian Science Monitor
March 3rd, 2005
A history of recent wars makes the region attractive to private companies recruiting for security forces, including El Salvador, the only Latin American country to maintain troops in the US-led coalition in Iraq. While the small nation has 338 soldiers on the ground, there are about twice as many Salvadorans working there for private contracting companies. |
| CHINA: Time to Recognize the Threat
The Conservative Voice
March 2nd, 2005
For several years, with very little media coverage, a body called the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission has been holding hearings and issuing reports on the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the U.S. and China. |
| U.S.A.: Halliburton Says U.S. Probes Foreign Bids
Reuters
March 2nd, 2005
In an annual 10-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, Halliburton stated that the the U.S. Justice Department is investigating former employees who may have engaged in bid-rigging as early as the mid-1980s. |
| IRAQ: U.S. Digs in for the Long Haul with Base Building
by Joshua Hammer, Mother Jones
February 28th, 2005
The omnipresence of the giant defense contractor Kellogg, Brown & Root, the shipments of concrete, the transformation of decrepit Iraqi military bases into fortified American enclavescomplete with Pizza Huts and DVD stores are just the most obvious signs that the United States has been digging in for the long haul. |
| IRAQ: Halliburton U.S. Army Contract Could Be Worth $6 Billion Extra
by Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg
February 25th, 2005
Congress in July approved a Bush administration request for $25 billion extra in fiscal 2005 and is now weighing a request for $75 billion more. Of that $100 billion, $6 billion could go to Halliburton, the world's second-biggest oilfield services company, according to the Army charts.
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| IRAQ: Contractor Death Total Unclear
by Kirsten Scharnberg , The Chicago Tribune
February 24th, 2005
At least 232 civilians working on U.S. military and reconstruction contracts have been killed there, many in violent but largely overlooked slayings, according to a report issued to Congress several weeks ago, but the death toll actually could be far higher.
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| U.S.A.: Army Awards Halliburton Bonuses for Some Iraq Work
by Sue Pleming , Reuters
February 24th, 2005
Although under scrutiny for its contracts in Iraq, Halliburton has been given bonuses for some of its work supporting the U.S. military in Kuwait and Afghanistan. The Army said KBR's performance has been rated as "excellent" to "very good" for more than a dozen "task orders" in Kuwait and Afghanistan supporting troops.
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| US: Ex-Boeing Finance Chief Gets Four Months in Prison
by Tony Capaccio , Bloomberg
February 18th, 2005
Former Boeing official, Michael Sears, was sentenced to four months in prison for deceiving the government by offering a job to a Pentagon official while negotiating a $23 billion defense contract. Sears, 57, also was ordered to pay a $250,000 fine and perform 200 hours of community service. |
| SOUTH AFRICA: 'It's Not Our War'
by Graeme Hosken, The Daily News & Independent Online
February 17th, 2005
National police confirmed that several South African companies and businessmen were being investigated by SAPS Crimes Against the State Unit (CASU) detectives for recruiting former specialised policemen and soldiers to work in Iraq.
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| IRAQ: Waste, Fraud and War
by Jim Hoagland, The Washington Post
February 17th, 2005
The picture that emerges from multiple, overlapping inquiries into the world's management of Iraq's people and oil wealth since 1991 is appalling. It is a portrait inhabited by crooks, inept managers and ostensibly well-meaning diplomats and security experts with hidden agendas.
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| IRAQ: Private Security contractors Largely Unregulated
by By Lisa Myers & the NBC investigative unit, NBC News
February 16th, 2005
Though contractors can use lethal force, the U.S. government does not vet who is hired. The Pentagon says it does watch how companies perform and investigates any alleged misconduct. |
| IRAQ: Millions of Dollars Paid in Cold, Hard Cash to Some Defense Contractors
by John E. Mulligan, The Providence Journal
February 15th, 2005
Franklin Willis, a former official with the Coalition Provision Authority, told the Senate Democratic Policy Commmittee that after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraq was "like the Wild West -- awash in $100 bills." One contractor, Custer Battles, was paid with $2 million in fresh U.S. bills, stuffed into a gunnysack, he said. |
| CHINA: An Arms Cornucopia? Europe Will Probably Lift its Embargo
by John Rossant with Dexter Roberts, BusinessWeek
February 15th, 2005
The prospect of supplying the nation with the world's fifth-largest military budget is enough to make any European defense contractor take notice. Beijing's defense outlay has been growing by 10% to 12% a year for the past decade, to an estimated $151 billion. |
| IRAQ: Contractor Employees Say Brutality Against Iraqis Led Them to Quit
by Lisa Myers & the NBC Investigative Unit, NBC News
February 15th, 2005
There are new allegations that heavily armed private security contractors in Iraq are brutalizing Iraqi civilians. In an exclusive interview, four former security contractors told NBC News that they watched as innocent Iraqi civilians were fired upon, and one crushed by a truck. The contractors worked for an American company paid by U.S. taxpayers. The Army is looking into the allegations.
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| IRAQ: Poor Oversight of Seized Iraqi Funds Blamed on Coalition Policy
by Elise Castelli, The Los Angeles Times
February 15th, 2005
just two weeks after an audit by the special inspector general for Iraqi reconstruction found inadequate oversight of unauthorized contracts and a loss of $9 billion in Iraqi funds, a witness told Democrats on Capitol Hill said key decisions by the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq enabled contractors to bilk billions in reconstruction funds. |
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