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| 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. |
| IRAQ: No Shortage of Applicants Wanting to Work as War Zone Contractors
by Particia Kitchen , Newsday
February 13th, 2005
Despite extensive media coverage of the kidnappings, beheadings and suicide attacks on civilian workers, one in ten applicants for jobs with the Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root, remain willing to take those well-paying truck driver, food service, laundry and maintenance positions in Iraq.
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| SOUTH AFRICA: Eyeing Tough New Mercenary Laws
by Gordon Bell, Reuters
February 12th, 2005
With South African mercenaries having shown up in civil wars in Sierra Leone, Angola, Ivory Coast, Papua New Guinea, and, now being active in Iraq, South Africa will review tough new laws to try to dissuade citizens from becoming embroiled in war zones. |
| IRAQ: U.N. Oil-for-Food Head Blocked Audit
by Desmond Butler, Asscociated Press
February 12th, 2005
The U.N. oil-for-food program chief under scrutiny for alleged corruption and mismanagement blocked a proposed audit of his office around the same time he's accused of soliciting lucrative oil deals from Iraq, according to investigators. |
| U.S.: Private Armies March into Legal Vacuum
by Thomas Catan , Financial Times
February 10th, 2005
"Private soldiers" have been operating in a legal limbo, with precious few rules governing their activities. However, a handful of legal cases in the U.S. are beginning to define the legal boundaries under which these companies can operate. |
| IRAQ: U.S. Army Won't Withhold Payment to Halliburton
by Sue Pleming, Reuters
February 3rd, 2005
The U.S. Army has decided not to withold payment on disputed bills involving billions of dollars for Iraq contract work after Halliburton threatened that delays in payment could lead to an interruption of crucial support services to the U.S. military. |
| IRAQ: Audit Slams U.S. Handling of Iraqi Funds
by T. Christian Miller, The Los Angeles Times
January 31st, 2005
The Coalition Provisional Authority may have paid salaries for thousands of nonexistent employees in Iraqi ministries, issued unauthorized multimillion-dollar contracts and provided little oversight of spending in possibly corrupt ministries, according to the report by Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.
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| IRAQ: At least 232 Civilians Dead While Doing U.S. Contract Work
by Sue Pleming, Reuters
January 30th, 2005
At least 232 civilians have been killed while working on U.S.-funded contracts in Iraq and the death toll is rising rapidly, according to a U.S. government audit sent to Congress. n addition, 728 claims were filed for employees who missed more than four days of work. Several hundred more were reported from neighboring Kuwait where companies working in Iraq have logistics and support operations. |
| US: Riggs Bank Fined for Not Reporting Suspect Accounts
by Laurence Arnold, Bloomberg
January 27th, 2005
Riggs Bank pleaded guilty to helping former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and the leaders of oil- rich Equatorial Guinea hide hundreds of millions of dollars. The federal judge questioned whether a $16 million fine agreed to by prosecutors was enough.
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| U.S.: Pentagon Struggles to Retain Elite Soldiers in Public Service
by Tom Bowman, Baltimore Sun
January 23rd, 2005
The Pentagon is offering bonuses of up to $150,000 to keep elite commandos, such as Army Green Berets and Navy SEALs, in the military and prevent them from being lured away to higher-paying jobs by private security contractors in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan, defense officials said. |
| US: Titan to Pay Fine and Plead Guilty in Bribery Probe
by Jonathon Karp and Andy Pasztor, Wall Street Journal
January 20th, 2005
Defense contractor Titan corporation tentatively agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges and pay less than $30 million to end investigations by the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission. As part of the settlement, Titan will admit that payments by its overseas consultants violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
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| IRAQ: U.S. Contractor Slain Had Alleged Graft
by Ken Silverstein, T. Christian Miller and Patrick J. McDonnell, The Los Angeles Times
January 20th, 2005
An American contractor gunned down last month in Iraq had accused Iraqi Defense Ministry officials of corruption days before his death, according to documents and U.S. officials. |
| IRAQ: Contractor Suit Opens Doors
by Shaun Waterman, UPI
January 10th, 2005
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for the wrongful death of security contractors. Experts warn it could set off a flood of litigation other private companies, whose unprecedented role in the Iraq conflict is opening unexplored legal territory. |
| IRAQ: Courts to Resolve Contractors' Deaths
by Joseph Neff and Jay Price, The News & Observer
January 9th, 2005
Just as the courts are thrashing out the legal status and rights of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, the courts will wrestle with the responsibility and liability of private companies on the battlefield. "We do reform through litigation, not legislation."
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| IRAQ: Tim Spicer's World
by Andrew Ackerman, The Nation
December 29th, 2004
Not only did the Pentagon have no idea who Tim Spicer was when they gave his company a huge contract, they didn't seem to care when challenged about it. Spicer, a former British soldier has had past business ventures that include violating a UN arms embargo in Sierra Leone and unwittingly triggering a coup in Papua New Guinea. His London-based company, Aegis Defense Services, bagged a $293 million contract to protect US diplomats in Iraq.
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| IRAQ: Three Companies Hit Hardest by Deaths of Contractors
Bloomberg
December 24th, 2004
At least 181 U.S. contractors have died this year in Iraq, and more than half worked for Titan Corp., Halliburton Co. or Computer Science Corp.'s DynCorp Technical Services unit, according to U.S. Labor Department data. The number of contractor personnel deaths contrasts with 23 deaths in 2003. |
| IRAQ: Vulnerability of Mess Tent Was Widely Feared
by Bill Nichols and Del Jones (Gannett News Service), The Olympian
December 22nd, 2004
The new dining hall being build by Halliburton was supposed to be ready by Christmas but is running behind schedule. It is believed the new reinforced mess building would have made a significant difference if it had been ready before Tuesday's attack. |
| US: The Spy Who Billed Me
by Tim Shorrock , Mother Jones
December 22nd, 2004
The lines separating contractors from intelligence agencies are so blurred that at the leading trade association -- the Security Affairs Support Association (SASA) -- 8 of 20 board members are current government officials. The association represents about 125 intelligence contractors, including Boeing, CACI, General Dynamics, and Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC). |
| UN: Experts Mull Over Code of Conduct for Security Firms on Front Lines
by Deborah Haynes , AFP
December 22nd, 2004
A team of experts under the aegis of the United Nations is exploring proposals on possible codes of conduct for the security industry, while also discussing a new legal definition of the term "mercenary", taking into account the activities of certain private military operators. |
| IRAQ: RTI's Huge Project to Help Rebuild Iraq is Met by Violence and Red Tape
by Kevin Begos, Winston-Salem Journal
December 19th, 2004
A huge chunk of money was set aside for democracy building in Iraq. Funding was then cut in half to $236 million with RTI's core directive to establish local-government councils and help "identify the most appropriate 'legitimate' and functional leaders" for coalition forces to work with. After 18 months some wonder about that mission, which would soon take on deadly significance. |
| IRAQ: Reconstruction Deal With a 'Merchant of Death'?
by Michael Isikoff, Newsweek/MSNBC
December 13th, 2004
Texas air charter firm allegedly controlled Russian arms trafficker Victor Bout was making repeated flights to Iraq—courtesy of a Pentagon contract allowing it to refuel at U.S. military bases. One reason for the flights, sources say, was that the firm was flying on behalf of Kellogg Brown & Root, the division of Halliburton hired to rebuild Iraq's oilfields. |
| IRAQ: How Harris Became a Major Media Player
by Noelle C. Haner , Orlando Business Journal
December 12th, 2004
Nearly a year and a great deal of controversy later, many media observers are wondering why the federal government awarded a $96 million contract to a company with little journalism background to run the Iraqi Media Network. Some suggest simple politics may be the reason. |
| IRAQ: Dirty Warriors for Hire
by Julian Brookes , Mother Jones
December 6th, 2004
With pressure to quickly fill thousands of jobs, many companies have recruited former police officers and soldiers who engaged in human rights violations -- including torture and illicit killings -- for regimes such as apartheid South Africa, Augusto Pinochet’s Chile, and Slobodan Milosevic’s Yugoslavia. |
| USA: Boeing Tanker Deal Rigged from the Beginning
by Editorial, The Washington Post
November 28th, 2004
The pile of internal e-mails show an Air Force leadership more bent on stifling dissenting views from within than on determining the best deal for taxpayers and inappropriately cozy with some contractors and personally biased against others. |
| U.N.: Annan's Son Took Payments Through 2004
by Claudia Rosett, New York Sun
November 26th, 2004
For more than eight years, from 1995-2004, the secretary-general's son was in one way or another on the payroll of Cotecna, which for almost five of those years held a key oil-for-food inspection contract with the U.N. Secretariat. |
| USA: Gamers Get a Taste of Playing Mercenary
IGN Insider
November 25th, 2004
LucasArts and Pandemic Studios are endeavoring to lure gamers into something a little different, you take on the role of a private military man who engages in a search for the "Deck of 52," the sum of dangerous and/or politically influential members of the government. |
| AFGHANISTAN: Private Prison Operators Appeal in Court
Daily Times/Pakistan/AFP
November 25th, 2004
The group’s ringleader leader, Jonathan “Jack” Idema, cursed reporters as he arrived at a court in the Afghan capital, dressed in military-style khaki trousers and shirt and dark sunglasses. “The press lies. None of you tell the truth,” Idema, 48, said as he entered the closed-door hearing.
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| AFRICA: Thatcher Feels Like a 'Corpse in a River'
by Lech Mintowt-czyz And Luke Leitch, Evening Standard
November 24th, 2004
Sir Mark Thatcher said his life had been "destroyed" by charges that he helped finance a failed African coup. The son of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher said he felt like a "corpse floating in the river" in the face of the case against him. |
| IRAQ: Contractor Deaths Grow in Iraq
by Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg News
November 21st, 2004
Total death insurance claims by contractors in Iraq have risen more than sixfold from 2003, U.S. government figures show, as nearly as many civilians are working overseas as soldiers. |
| SCOTLAND: Contract 1030484 Turned Oil into Gold
by Calum MacDonald, The Herald
November 16th, 2004
The Weir Group admitted in July to £4.3m worth of irregular payments amounting to an 11.5% mark-up on contracts worth £36.5m. It is still unable to account for the money, which is suspected of having lined the pockets of go-betweens and may have ended up in the hands of Saddam Hussein. |
| USA: Senate Told of Oil-for-Food Bribes
by William Tinning, The Herald
November 16th, 2004
The Senage Panel heard that more than 3,500 companies worldwide contracted with Iraq under the program, and that hundreds probably paid kickbacks to Saddam. |
| USA: A Watchdog Follows the Money in Iraq
by Erik Eckholm, The New York Times
November 15th, 2004
As former officials describe it, some officers regarded Bunnatine H. Greenhouse as a stickler for cumbersome rules on things like sharing contracts with small businesses and ensuring open competition for bids. |
| USA: Long Fall for Pentagon Procurement Star
by Renae Merle, The Washington Post
November 14th, 2004
When at the peak of her power as a top Air Force weapons buyer, Darleen Druyun helped direct the Air Force's $30 billion procurement budget. Last month she stunned military and industry leaders by admitting that she gave Boeing preferential treatment for years before taking a job with the company.
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| IRAQ: British Security Firm 'Abused Scared Iraqi Boy'
by Antony Barnett and Patrick Smith, The Guardian
November 14th, 2004
Pictures show two Erinys employees restraining the 16-year-old Iraqi with six car tyres around his body. The photographs, taken last May, show the boy frozen with fear in a room where the wall appeared to be marked by bullet holes.
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| AFGHANISTAN: 'Luxury' Cell in Jail for Convicted Bounty Hunter
by Colin Freeman, The Scotsman
November 14th, 2004
Convicted of illegal bounty-hunting in Afghanistan, ex-US soldier Jonathan ‘Jack’ Idema and his two American co-defendants live in relative luxury. Their apartment-style suite is complete with satellite TV, Persian carpets, private bathroom and kitchen and rumours are now circulating that they will be freed in a deal between Washington and the Afghan government.
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| USA: Seeking the Edge as Government Doles Out Contracts
by Elizabeth Williamson, The Washington Post
November 14th, 2004
Defense spending on outside contracts totaled more than $200 billion last year. It can take years for a firm to become eligible for government work and some say the best way to make government connections is to hire them. "You have to hire people from these organizations in the hope that their connections will bring you business," says one contractor.
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| U.S.: New Bribes Scandal at Halliburton
by John Sterlicchi, Evening Standard
November 9th, 2004
Halliburton says its staff may have paid bribes to Nigerian officials to secure a $4 billion contract in the 1990s. The company says the Justice Department is also investigating payments in connection with bidding practices on certain foreign projects.
which dismissed Stanley as a consultant earlier this year, said the Justice Department was also investigating whether Stanley 'received payments in connection with bidding practices on certain foreign projects'. |
| PHILIPPINES: Workers Sent to Iraq Unaware of Ban?
by Sandy Araneta, Philippine Headline News
November 7th, 2004
Nineteen Filipino workers (returning from Iraq knew their country banned deployment to the strife-torn country, but like contestants at the once popular game show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," they needed to be prompted for the precise month when the ban was imposed.
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| UK: Fraud Office to Investigate BAE Contracts
BBC
November 3rd, 2004
An investigation into suspected false accounting related to contracts between Robert Lee International, Travellers World and BAE in connection with defense equipment contracts with Saudi Arabia. |
| IRAQ: Dirty Warriors
by Barry Yeoman , Mother Jones
November 1st, 2004
How South African hit men, Serbian paramilitaries, and other human rights violators became guns for hire for military contractors in Iraq |
| IRAQ: Audit Can't Find Billions
by Bryan Bender, The Boston Globe
October 16th, 2004
The audit found serious gaps in how the Development Fund for Iraq -- a pool of money drawn from Iraqi oil revenues and international aid -- was handled by American occupation officials responsible for funding reconstruction projects. |
| IRAQ: Contractors Are Bidding Amid Increasing Attacks
by Beth Potter, McGraw Hill Construction
July 26th, 2004
Some 50 Iraqi contractors listened recently at a Sunday bid meeting to Kellogg, Brown & Root project manager Glenn Powell via a translator. To get there, they had passed through four U.S. military checkpoints along a quarter-mile stretch through a heavily fortified Baghdad “green zone” for foreigners doing business in Iraq. |
| Iraq: CACI Contracts Blocked
by Ellen McCarthy, Washington Post
May 26th, 2004
The Interior Department's inspector general is reviewing the contracting procedures that allowed the Army to hire civilian interrogators in Iraq and has blocked the Army from using the contract to place new orders with Arlington-based CACI International Inc., an agency spokesman said yesterday.
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| US: C-130’s Costs Soar Despite Reforms
by David Phinney, Defense News
April 12th, 2004
The Pentagon had high hopes it could keep costs low on a new model of the C-130 transport by treating it like any other commercial purchase, but despite the publicly intended purpose, the airlifter’s price nearly doubled. |
| US: A Case of Reprisal Against One Pentagon Auditor
by David Phinney, Federal Times
April 12th, 2004
Last year, Ken Pedeleose and two colleagues wrote a 90-page report, cross-referenced with hundreds of documents and correspondence, accusing DCMA officials and the Pentagon of routinely bypassing administrative safeguards. The report was delivered to more than 50 members of Congress. |
| USA: Inside Lockheed's $250 Billion Pentagon Connection
by Geoffrey Gray, Village Voice
March 19th, 2003
George Bush has said if he is fortunate enough to be elected president, he is going to look at our whole military situation, including the tactical air account. He's noted that the 3000 number [of planes] seems a bit much. |
| IRAQ: KBR Workers in Iraq Paid 50 cents an Hour
by Pamela Hess, United Press International
KBR hires out subcontractors whose job is to recruit, transport, house, feed and pay "third-country" nationals to stock, prepare, serve and clean up at the dining facilities at 43 bases across Iraq. As pressure to keep contract costs down, subcontractors have moved from country to country in search of cheaper labor markets. |
| IRAQ: Turn the Lights On
by Joe Cochrane, Newsweek International
Americans were as wrong about the health of Iraq's infrastructure as they were about their welcome as liberators and the insurgents know that depriving Iraq of power is at least as effective as killing soldiers and policemen. |
| US: Want Big Bucks For Big Risks? Jobs Open In Iraq, Afghanistan
Plumbers, electricians, truck drivers, food-service workers, logistics specialists and other professionals work 12-hour days providing support services to American troops. It's hard, dangerous work. But the pay is high. A year on the job can change the average person's financial life.
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| IRAQ: Dirty Warriors
by Barry Yeoman , Mother Jones
How South African hit men, Serbian paramilitaries, and other human rights violators became guns for hire for military contractors in Iraq |
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