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News Articles
| US: Billions over Baghdad; The Spoils of War
by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, Vanity Fair
October 1st, 2007
Between April 2003 and June 2004, $12 billion in U.S. currency--much of it belonging to the Iraqi people--was shipped from the Federal Reserve to Baghdad, where it was dispensed by the Coalition Provisional Authority. Incredibly, at least $9 billion has gone missing, unaccounted for, in a frenzy of mismanagement and greed. |
| IRAQ: Big oil’s waiting game over Iraq’s reserves
by Ed Crooks and Sheila McNulty, Financial Times
September 19th, 2007
Oil companies face a dilemma in Iraq over whether to wait for a new oil law which will give them a legal framework in which to operate or to sign agreements now with the Kurdistan Regional Government at the risk of sullying relations with Baghdad and the rest of the country. |
| CHINA: An Opportunity for Wall St. in China’s Surveillance Boom
by Keith Bradsher, New York Times
September 11th, 2007
China Security and Surveillance Technology, a fast-growing company that installs and sometimes operates surveillance systems for Chinese police agencies, jails and banks, has just been approved for a listing on the New York Stock Exchange. The company’s listing is just a sign of ever-closer ties among Wall Street, surveillance companies and the Chinese government’s security apparatus. |
| US: Iraq convoy was sent out despite threat
by T. Christian Miller, LA Times
September 3rd, 2007
Senior managers for defense contractor KBR overruled calls to halt supply operations in Iraq in the spring of 2004, ordering unarmored trucks into an active combat zone where six civilian drivers died in an ambush, according to newly available documents. |
| US: Army to examine Iraq contracts
by Richard Lardner, Associated Press
August 29th, 2007
The Army will examine as many as 18,000 contracts awarded over the past four years to support U.S. forces in Iraq to determine how many are tainted by waste, fraud and abuse. |
| US: 'America's private army' under fire for Illinois facility
by E.A. Torriero, Chicago Tribune
July 23rd, 2007
Blackwater North, as the North Carolina-based firm calls its new site, is designed primarily as a tactical training ground for domestic law enforcement and contractors. Using civilians schooled in military warfare, the site offers training in weaponry, hostage dealings and terror reaction. Still, the sudden appearance of Blackwater is attracting criticism and questions from miles around. Anti-war activists and locals are wary about the new training site. |
| US: Filling Gaps in Iraq, Then Finding a Void at Home
by John M. Broder, New York Times
July 17th, 2007
Taking the place of enlisted troops in every American army before this one, contract employees in Iraq cook meals, wash clothes, deliver fuel and guard bases. And they die and suffer alongside
their brothers and sisters in uniform. About 1,000 contractors have been killed in Iraq since the war began; nearly 13,000 have been injured. The consequences of the war will be lasting for many of them and their families, ordeals that are largely invisible to most Americans. |
| IRAQ: A Private Realm Of Intelligence-Gathering; Firm Extends U.S. Government's Reach
by Steve Fainaru and Alec Klein, Washington Post Foreign Service
July 1st, 2007
On the first floor of a tan building inside Baghdad's Green Zone, the full scope of Iraq's daily carnage is condensed into a 30-minute PowerPoint presentation. The intelligence was compiled not by the U.S. military, but by a British security firm, Aegis Defence Services Ltd. The Reconstruction Operations Center is the most visible example of how intelligence collection is now among the responsibilities handled by a network of private security companies that work in the shadows of the U.S. military. |
| WORLD: US probes Saudi-linked UK arms firm
by David Robertson and Tom Baldwin, The Times (London)
June 28th, 2007
The British and US governments are on a diplomatic collision course after the US Department of Justice launched a formal investigation into allegations of corruption at defence company BAE Systems. The US investigation will scrutinise BAE's dealings with Saudi Arabia to expose an account allegedly held by the Bank of England that is used to facilitate Saudi payments for arms.
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| IRAQ: Corporate Torture in Iraq
by
Ali Eteraz, Counter Punch
October 11th, 2006
What remains under-reported and under-appreciated is the fact that this war has afforded a vast collection of corporations to reap the benefits of lucrative government contracts. A number of such companies are involved in supervising, maintaining, and providing support for the numerous prisons in Iraq in the areas of interrogation, interpretation, and translation. |
CorpWatch Exclusives
 | High-Tech Healthcare in Iraq, Minus the Healthcare
by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch
January 8th, 2007
Almost four years after the toppling of Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s healthcare system is still a shambles. While most hospitals lack basic supplies, dozens of incomplete clinics and warehoused high-technology equipment remain as a testament to the failed U.S. experiment to reconstruct of Iraq. First in a series of CorpWatch articles. |
 | Iraq After Halliburton
by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch
July 12th, 2006
The controversial multibillion-dollar deal with oil services giant Halliburton to provide logistical support to U.S. troops in Iraq has been canceled. What should happen next? Read our three alternative annual reports on Halliburton, to learn the real legacy of the company's incompetence and corruption.
Listen to an interview with CorpWatch's director, Pratap Chatterjee. |
 | Pink "iPods" for Democracy!
by Fariba Nawa, Special to CorpWatch
March 15th, 2006
Voice for Humanity recently sold tens of thousands of pink and silver audio players to the United States government to teach Afghan villagers about democracy. Critics say that the project was a waste of taxpayer dollars. Others say it is a perfect example of the covert "information war" conducted in the "war on terrorism." |
 | Baghdad Embassy Bonanza
by David Phinney, Special to CorpWatch
February 12th, 2006
A controversial Kuwait-based construction firm accused of exploiting employees and coercing low-paid laborers to work in war-torn Iraq against their will is now building the new $592-million U.S. embassy in Baghdad.Listen to an interview with David Phinney about this article on CorpWatch Radio.
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 | Meet the New Interrogators: Lockheed Martin
by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch
November 4th, 2005
Sytex, a subsidiary of Lockheed , the world's largest military contractor, has emerged as one of the biggest recruiters of private interrogators deployed to the United States-run prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan. |
 | Halliburton Hearing Unearths New Abuse
by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch
June 27th, 2005
"Misplaced" portable military bases, thousand-dollar VCRs, and expired food are only a few of the new charges that have been brought against the most powerful military contractor in Iraq. |
 | Marines Jail Contractors in Iraq
by David Phinney, Special to CorpWatch
June 7th, 2005
Tension and confusion are on the rise in Iraq after a group of American security contractors were thrown in jail under suspicion for shooting at the US Marines in Fallujah. |
 | Adding Insult to Injury
by David Phinney, Special to CorpWatch
May 24th, 2005
Many Halliburton contractors leave Iraq with debilitating injuries and deep psychological scars. Then they return home only to find that the insurance they need to rebuild their lives is out of reach. |
 | Houston, We Still Have A Problem
by Andrea Buffa and Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch
May 16th, 2005
This week, CorpWatch publishes a special alternative annual report on Halliburton. From bribery, fraud, and corruption in Iraq, to the undermining of US government regulations that protect drinking water at home, we take a closer look at this controversial company's track record in 2004. |
 | Contract Quagmire in Iraq
by David Phinney, Special to CorpWatch
April 27th, 2005
Rioting and threats of work stoppages at critical transportation hubs needed to rebuild the war-torn Iraq have erupted in recent months following payment disputes between contractors originally hired by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority and Iraqi officials skeptical of the billings and the CPA's handiwork. |
 | Halliburton Bribery Scandal Deepens
by David Phinney, Special to CorpWatch
March 29th, 2005
Halliburton officials are being investigated for taking millions of dollars in bribes while staying at a lavish seaside resort in Kuwait, in return for sub-contracts to supply the US military in Iraq. Jeff Alex Mazon is the first of these Halliburton managers to be indicted for corruption.
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 | Driving Into Danger
by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch
March 29th, 2005
A grieving family is suing Halliburton for the wrongful death of Tony Johnson, a truck driver killed while en route on the deadliest day the Iraq war has seen so far. Did the company knowingly place their workers in harm's way? The Johnsons -- and the flood of families waiting to file similar lawsuits -- say they did. |
 | Intelligence, Inc.
by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch
March 7th, 2005
US military interrogators -- who will work at sites ranging from Abu Ghraib to Guantanamo Bay -- must first receive training at one obscure military fort in Southern Arizona. Today, that training has been taken over by private contractors working for profit.
ALSO: An Interrogator Speaks Out |
 | Boeing Scandal Part of Deeper Problems at Pentagon
by David Phinney, Special to CorpWatch
January 5th, 2005
Military contractors like Boeing, Halliburton and Lockheed, have become increasingly embedded with the Pentagon bureaucrats who give them lucrative work as the jailing of Darleen Druyun, a former U.S. Air Force weapons buyer, demonstrates. |
 | “Contract Meals Disaster" for Iraqi Prisoners
by David Phinney, Special to CorpWatch
December 9th, 2004
New evidence suggests that the Abu Ghraib prisoners were subjected not only to torture and psychological abuse, they were underfed, malnourished and made to eat food so bad it inspired riots. A little-known private contractor, run by an American civilian, is said to be to blame.
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 | Agent Orange Victims Sue Monsanto
by Tom Fawthrop, Special to CorpWatch
November 4th, 2004
Vietnamese Association of Victims of Agent Orange (VAVA) filed a class action law suit in a New York court, against Monsanto and 36 other manufacturers of Agent Orange. |
 | Darfur Diplomacy: Enter the Contractors
by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch
October 21st, 2004
Rwandan and Nigerian soldiers will arrive in western Sudan this week as the first deployment of a five nation 4,500 strong peacekeeping force dispatched from the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa to stem the violence in Darfur. Providing logistical support for the mission will be two private contractors from California, both of whom have mixed records carrying out similar enterprises in the past. |
 | Iraq Contractor Accused of Offshore Shell Game
by David Phinney, Special to CorpWatch
October 14th, 2004
Former managers working for Custer Battles, a high-profile private security company in Iraq, are accusing the firm of using companies in the Cayman Islands and other “tax haven” countries to fraudulently overcharge on government contracts by tens of millions of dollars. |
 | "Rigged from the Beginning"
by David Phinney, Special to CorpWatch
September 30th, 2004
A once secret Halliburton oil contract raked in billions long after the Army said the work would be competitively bid. As of September 2004 Halliburton billed over $2.5 billion. A Bechtel whistleblower calls the bidding process to break up the work, "a sham." |
 | Prison Interrogation for Profit
by David Phinney, Special to CorpWatch
September 15th, 2004
Private contractors face legal action for crimes in Abu Ghraib
Employees of two high-profile defense contractors are accused of involvement in close to one third of the torture and abuse incidents cited in a recent Army investigation of Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. |
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