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. Read More
"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. Read More
The head of a five-member Kuwaiti investigative committee said the U.S. military and Halliburton have failed to fully cooperate in the investigation of a contract for fuel deliveries to Iraq. "We sent them a letter to clarify some points, but we have not received an answer for three months," he said. Read More
The U.S. Army will pay $1.8 billion to a Halliburton subsidiary for dining services in Iraq and Kuwait but retain $55 million out of about $200 million in payments suspended during a long-running billing dispute. Read More
Halliburton will receive about 95% of what it billed, despite numerous concerns by Pentagon auditors that the company couldn't provide adequate documentation to justify its expenses. The favorable settlement is an indication the military brass is willing to treat Halliburton leniently since a large portion of the disputed services were performed in a theater of war. Read More
Halliburton Co. and the U.S. Army have resolved a lengthy billing dispute over meals served to U.S. troops in Iraq and Kuwait, with the Pentagon ultimately refusing to reimburse $55 million worth of bills. At stake was $200 million in disputed costs incurred during the first nine months of the war and occupation, first in Kuwait and then in Iraq. Read More
According to a recent United Nations report, South Africa is among the top three suppliers of personnel for private military companies operating in Iraq next to the US and the UK. At least 10 South African based companies have been sending people to Iraq. Most of those recruited operate as drivers and bodyguards, protecting supply routes and valuable resources. Read More
North Carolina-based security contractor Blackwater USA refuses to share the results of the company's probe into the killings of four employees in Iraq a year ago, the mothers of two slain employees tell ABC News. Read More
Reports said that many security guards recruited from Fiji by Timoci Lolohea's Meridian Services Agency were still unemployed, two months after arriving in oil rich kingdom that borders war-torn Iraq. Read More