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| Iraq: Soldiers of Fortune Rush to Cash in on Unrest
by James Hider, Times (London)
April 1st, 2004
In Iraq, the postwar business boom is not oil. It is security. In a country shaken by guerrilla warfare, crime and terrorism, where the United States is handing out almost $ 20 billion (£11 billion) in reconstruction contracts, thousands of well-armed private security contractors are making a fortune. |
| Afghanistan/Iraq: Weary Special Forces Quit for Security Jobs
by David Rennie and Michael Smith, Daily Telegraph (London)
March 31st, 2004
Exhausted American and British special forces troopers, the West's front line in the war on terrorism, are resigning in record numbers and taking highly-paid jobs as private security guards in Iraq and Afghanistan. Senior US commanders are so alarmed that they have held emergency meetings to agree new deals on pay and conditions for the men. |
| Iraq: Security Pushes Up Contract Costs
by Sue Pleming, Reuters
March 31st, 2004
Soaring security and insurance costs are driving up the price of contracts to rebuild Iraq and more funds may be needed, said a report on Wednesday by the U.S.-led authority's chief inspector in Iraq.
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| Iraq: Parsons Corp. Wins $900 Million Contract
Reuters
March 30th, 2004
California's Parsons Corp., one of the most active U.S. companies in Iraq, said on Tuesday it won a contract worth up to $900 million from the U.S. military for security and justice work in Iraq. The privately-owned engineering and construction company said the latest deal includes the restoration and construction of bases for the Iraqi security forces, police stations, border control stations, fire stations, courthouses and prisons. |
| Iraq: Global Security Firms Fill in as Private Armies
by Robert Collier, San Francisco Chronicle
March 28th, 2004
The shootout was just one more example of the behind-the-scenes role played in Iraq by an estimated 15,000 private security agents from the United States, Britain and countries as varied as Nepal, Chile, Ukraine, Israel, South Africa and Fiji. They are employed by about 25 different firms that are playing their part in Iraq's highly dangerous postwar environment by performing tasks ranging from training the country's new police and army to protecting government leaders to providing logistics for the U.S. military. 15,000 agents patrol the violent streets of Iraq. |
| Equatorial Guinea: Mercenary Tells How Coup Went Wrong
by Tom Walker, Sunday Times (London)
March 28th, 2004
A former SAS soldier languishing in a Zimbabwean jail has confessed to numerous failures in his attempt to lead a group of mercenaries in overthrowing the president of Equatorial Guinea. In a 13-page handwritten statement, Simon Mann describes how he hoped to convince the Harare authorities to let him and his men pass through Zimbabwe.
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| US: Carlyle Stands to Profit from Disaster
by David Lazarus, San Francisco Chronicle
March 21st, 2004
The Washington investment firm, run by a who's who of Republican heavyweights, including former Secretary of State James Baker and former Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci, has put money into about 300 different companies and properties.
Those investments include United Defense Industries, a maker of combat vehicles, naval guns and missile launchers; and Sippican, a maker of submarine systems and countermeasures to protect warships |
| Chile: US Contractor Recruits Guards for Iraq in South America
by Jonathan Franklin, Guardian (London)
March 5th, 2004
The US is hiring mercenaries in Chile to replace its soldiers on security duty in Iraq. A Pentagon contractor has begun recruiting former commandos, other soldiers and seamen, paying them up to $4,000 (2,193) a month to guard oil wells against attack by insurgents. |
| UK: Watchdogs Call Government on Unethical Sales
BBC
February 25th, 2004
The government is allowing British arms manufacturers to sell to some of the most dangerous and repressive regimes in the world, two charities claim. A dramatic rise in the sale of arms components to these regimes undermines the government's own ethical policies, say Oxfam and Amnesty International. |
| Ivory Coast: British Mercenaries Follow Diamond Money
by James Astill, Guardian (London)
February 22nd, 2004
Executive Outcomes drew international attention to the industry, worth an estimated £30bn a year in the late 90s, by fighting for the besieged governments of Angola and Sierra Leone. In Sierra Leone the British mercenary company Sandline International broke a UN arms embargo, allegedly with British government approval. |
| US: Workers Fear Toxins In Faster Nuclear Cleanup
by Sarah Kershaw and Matthew Wald, New York Times
February 20th, 2004
Faster cleanup schedules raise questions about environmental dangers and workers at risk for exposure to asbestos and beryllium. |
| USA: Halliburton Stops Billing U.S. for Meals Served to Troops
by Eric Schmitt, New York Times
February 17th, 2004
Seeking to defuse a growing election-year issue, the Halliburton Company said Monday that it had stopped billing the Pentagon for the cost of feeding American troops in Iraq and Kuwait until a dispute over the number of meals served is resolved. |
| Iraq: Start-up Company with Connections
by Knut Royce, New York Newsday
February 15th, 2004
U.S. authorities in Iraq have awarded more than $400 million in contracts to a start-up company that has extensive family and, according to court documents, business ties to Ahmed Chalabi, the Pentagon favorite on the Iraqi Governing Council.
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| US: What Did the Vice-President Do for Halliburton?
by Jane Mayer, The New Yorker
February 10th, 2004
Halliburton blamed the high costs on an obscure Kuwaiti firm, Altanmia Commercial Marketing, which it subcontracted to deliver the fuel. In Kuwait, the oil business is controlled by the state, and Halliburton has claimed that government officials there pressured it into hiring Altanmia, which had no experience in fuel transport. Yet a previously undisclosed letter, dated May 4, 2003, and sent from an American contracting officer to Kuwait's oil minister, plainly describes the decision to use Altanmia as Halliburton's own "recommendation." |
| Australia: Gov't Looks Away From Payments to Indonesian Forces
by Bob Burton, InterPress Service
February 7th, 2004
One month after an unarmed protester against the construction of a Australian-owned mine in Indonesia was shot and killed, the Australian government is refusing to warn companies against paying Indonesian security forces for protection. |
| Iraq: Occupation, Inc.
by Pratap Chatterjee and Herbert Docena, Southern Exposure
February 4th, 2004
Bechtel's projects are examined by freelance journalists. Locals complain of shoddy work, problems with schools, sewage, electricity, gas lines, and low wages. |
| 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: 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. |
| USA: Spying for Fun and Profit
by Kari Lydersen, Alternet
May 28th, 2003
Survelliance technologies raise serious questions about invasions of privacy and violations of civil liberties. They also cost a lot of money. Taxpayers fund this massively beefed up security. Private corporations and even individuals are also paying large amounts to boost their own security procedures in light of the war on terrorism. Naturally, someone is also profiting off this boom. |
 | Dyncorp Rent-a-Cops May Head to Post-Saddam Iraq
by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch
April 9th, 2003
A major military contractor - already underfire for alleged human rights violations and fraud - may get a multi-million dollar contract to police post-Saddam Iraq. |
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