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"The ministries with big cash, the Water Ministry, Electricity Ministry, Housing Ministry, Oil and Gas Ministry, Education Ministry, they are the guys with big money," project manager for Rebuild Iraq 2005 Fadi Kaddoura said.

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.

Hundreds of firms have headed for Jordan for the latest in a string of conferences intended to drum up business for Iraq's reconstruction.

A man with ties to New Mexico working in Iraq as a security coordinator for a subsidiary of Halliburton was severely beaten last week by a group of fellow employees reportedly called the "Redneck Mafia."

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.

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.

Based on a review of recently distributed federal-procurement documents, the U.S. government is actively soliciting the help of mercenaries whose sole function will be to locate and rescue missing or captured Drug War personnel.

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.

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.

Outburst by US security firm in Iraq is attacked by human rights groups.

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.

If deterioration of the global environment over the past several decades is any guide, the coming century does not hold out much promise for reversing these trends, many environmentalists are warning as the millennium comes to a close.

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.

The U.S. Justice Department gave critical support yesterday to whistle-blowers in a federal lawsuit against U.S. security contractor, Custer Battles.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute says the rapid growth in private sector firms supporting military operations has worked well. From logistics to paramilitary security, the private sector is increasingly playing a critical role on the battlefield.

 MARK COLVIN: War today isn't just about privates; it's also about privatisation.

The use of private contractors on the battlefield has been a distinctive element of the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

And today the Australian Government's defence think-tank weighed in with a study that says it's time to create a legal regime covering the use of "business on the battlefield".

Graeme Dobell reports from Canberra.

GRAEME DOBELL: Call it the "Coalition of the Billing". There's bucks to be made on the battlefield.

The government contends that private aid groups, which control much of the donated money, have squandered it. Many business leaders say corruption and the lack of staff trained in government are largely to blame.

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.