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Attorney general says downloading bootlegs is illegal, but many students are unfazed. "When I buy a CD I feel like I'm paying for corporate lawyers and corporate headquarters and, no offense, but I don't want to do that. And I don't have to," says one.

Deficit-plagued Washington's checkbook remains open to military contractors and nearly all of Europe's leading defense firms are pressing for more U.S. military business.

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.

Science Applications International Corporation, one of the Pentagon's largest contractors, has agreed to pay the government $2.5 million to settle accusations that it illegally made a 30 percent profit on environmental cleanup work in Texas for the Air Force.

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.

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.

Contractors are reaping rewards of a surge in defense spending from a little over $300 billion before the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States to about $500 billion now.

The United States is troubled by the Philippine government's attempts to persuade Filipino workers to leave Iraq. Their withdrawal from Iraq is expected to have an adverse impact on the operation of the camps since Filipinos make up the largest number of foreign workers in the camps.

Nonprofit's Tactics, Funding Sources Spark Controversy

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.