| Iraq: SAIC Pays DOD Settlement by Rachel Sams, Baltimore Business Journal March 25th, 2004 Defense contractor Science Applications International Corp. has agreed to pay $484,500 to settle allegations it violated the False Claims Act when designing a computer system program for the U.S. Department of Defense. |
| Iraq: Nour USA Ltd's Delivery Delays by Tom Shanker and Eric Schmitt, New York Times March 22nd, 2004 Senior American commanders in Iraq are publicly complaining that delays in delivering radios, body armor and other equipment have hobbled their ability to build an effective Iraqi security force that can ultimately replace United States troops here. |
| US: Report Finds Halliburton Violated Contracting Rules by Seth Borenstein, Knight Ridder March 11th, 2004 Halliburton, the big contractor that's won the lion's share of government contracts to rebuild Iraq, significantly and systematically violated federal contracting rules by providing inaccurate and incomplete information about its own costs, according to a special report by Defense Department auditors. |
| US: Pentagon Asks Justice to Join Halliburton Probe by Neil King Jr. and Glenn R. Simpson, Wall Street Journal March 10th, 2004 The Pentagon has asked the Justice Department to join an inquiry into alleged fuel overcharging by Halliburton Co. in Iraq, indicating that Pentagon officials see possible grounds for criminal charges or civil penalties. |
| Unearthing Democratic Root to Halliburton Flap
by Al Kamen, Washington Post March 5th, 2004 Truly there is nothing new under the sun. In recent months Democrats have been bleating about fat Iraq construction contracts going to Halliburton, about Halliburton's ties to the administration because Vice President Cheney happened to run the company just before taking his current job and a shocking GOP tendency to help contributors. |
| US: Lawmakers seek Halliburton internal documents by David Ivanovich, Houston Chronicle February 27th, 2004 Two key Democratic lawmakers want Halliburton to turn over internal documents that reportedly identified significant deficiencies in the company's cost controls. |
| US: Ex-Halliburton Workers Allege Rampant Waste by T. Christian Miller, Los Angeles Times February 13th, 2004 Halliburton has systematically wasted U.S. taxpayer dollars in its operations in Iraq and Kuwait, according to two of the company's former employees who have spoken to congressional investigators. |
| World: America's Empire of Bases by Chalmers Johnson, Tom Paine January 15th, 2004 Due to government secrecy, our citizens are often ignorant of the fact that our garrisons encircle the planet. This vast network of American bases on every continent except Antarctica actually constitutes a new form of empire – an empire of bases with its own geography not likely to be taught in any high school geography class. Without grasping the dimensions of this globe-girdling Baseworld, one can't begin to understand the size and nature of our imperial aspirations or the degree to which a new kind of militarism is undermining our constitutional order. |
| US: Contractors Complain of TSA Limits by Sara Kehaulani Goo, Washington Post November 21st, 2003 A pilot program to test the effectiveness of privately employed screeners at U.S. airports is yielding few security innovations or cost savings because of constraints imposed by the Transportation Security Administration, government investigators and private contractors said. |
| Iraq: The Pentagon's Private Corps by Julian Brookes, MotherJones.com October 22nd, 2003 Washington has long outsourced work to private firms. What's new is the size and variety of contracts being doled out, particularly by the Pentagon. Private military companies now do more than simply build airplanes -- they maintain those planes on the battlefield and even fly them; construct detention camps in Guantanamo Bay, pilot armed reconnaissance planes and helicopter gunships to eradicate coca crops in Colombia; and operate the intelligence and communications systems at the U.S. Northern Command in Colorado -- work that brings the various companies an estimated $100 billion a year. |
| US: Halliburton Ceated Raised Prices of Gas by Farhad Manjoo, Salon.com October 16th, 2003 Why is getting gasoline to oil-rich Iraq costing Americans so much money? The congressmen have a one-word, obvious answer: Halliburton. |
| Iraq: Some of Army's Civilian Contractors Are No-Shows by David Wood, Newhouse News Service July 31st, 2003 U.S. troops in Iraq suffered through months of unnecessarily poor living conditions because some civilian contractors hired by the Army for logistics support failed to show up, Army officers said. |
| Iraq: Nation Builders for Hire by Dan Baum, New York Times magazine June 22nd, 2003 When Dwight Eisenhower warned in 1961 of the ''military-industrial complex,'' he never imagined the regimental descendants of Monty's boys at El Alamein tenting in the desert to baby-sit corporadoes earning $10,000 tax-free a month. This, however, is modern might. The military has become the industrial, and vice versa. |
| Iraq: Oil Companies Aid Military Planners, Industry Avoids Publicity About Its Role in Teaching Troops to Operate Iraq Wells by Chip Cummins , Wall Street Journal March 27th, 2003 The oil industry has gone to great lengths to distance itself from any planning related to the potential post-war opening of Iraq's massive fields, now partly in U.S. and British hands. But it is becoming clear that a number of companies played significant advisory roles in military operations taking place on those fields, underscoring an unusual partnership between the military and private companies in the Iraq campaign. |
| IRAQ: Thousands of Private Contractors Support U.S. Forces in Persian Gulf by Kenneth Bredemeier, Washington Post March 3rd, 2003 Private contractors are sending thousands of technical experts to the Persian Gulf region. They operate communications systems, repair helicopters, fix weapons systems and link the computers with the troops to command centers. |
| Iraq: US begins secret talks to secure Iraq's oilfields for fear that wells will be torched if regime falls by Nick Paton, Julian Borger, Terry Macalister and Ewen MacAskill, Guardian January 23rd, 2003 The US military has drawn up detailed plans to secure and protect Iraq's oilfields to prevent a repeat of 1991 when President Saddam set Kuwait's wells ablaze. |
| Afghanistan: New World Bank Grants Worth US$90 Million Reach Out Across Afghanistan June 6th, 2002 The World Bank today approved grants for three development projects in Afghanistan, bringing the institution's support for the war-ravaged country to a total of US$100 million in grant funding for the fiscal year ending June 30. |
| Afghanistan: World Bank and Central Asian Pipeline Agence France-Presse May 15th, 2002 World Bank chief James Wolfensohn said Wednesday he had held talks about financing a fuel pipeline to channel massive gas reserves from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to India or Pakistan. Wolfensohn, who was in the Afghan capital to open the financial institution's offices here and to confirm 100 million dollars of World Bank grants for the interim administration, said a number of companies had already expressed an interest in the project. |
| US: Secret Task Led to Web Of Firms; Virginian Ran Covert Missions Washington Post March 22nd, 1987 The mission that apparently launched the network of private companies now embroiled in the Iran-contra affair took place in October 1983, when an obscure U.S. Army unit asked a retired lieutenant colonel to undertake a secret job in the Caribbean, according to informed sources. |
| US: Oman Hold Delicate Negotiations Over Bases; Sultanate Pushing for Greater Control Over Access to Persian Gulf Facilities by David B. Ottaway, Washington Post July 19th, 1985 The United States has been involved for two months in delicate negotiations with the Persian Gulf sultanate of Oman, which is seeking more control over U.S. access to, and use of, its strategically located airfields and other military facilities. |