War & Disaster Profiteering

Bechtel Group Inc. agreed to sell its equity in the troubled Dabhol power project for $160 million, according to people involved in the transaction, edging India closer to ending a four-year dispute that has plagued its efforts to boost foreign investment. Read More

Iraqi workers, particularly the oil workers, are overwhelmingly opposed to any plans to privatise their country's oil industry. Read More

Guard recruiters find themselves in a "bidding war" for highly skilled service veterans, who are being offered lucrative contracts to work as private security contractors in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. Read More

Two whistleblowers who allege that a Fairfax-based contractor cheated taxpayers out of tens of millions of dollars on reconstruction projects in Iraq can proceed with their lawsuit, a judge has ruled. But parts of the ruling could have negative consequences for those who file similar claims against other contractors, according to a lawyer for the whistleblowers. Read More

L-3 Communications has landed a contract with the U.S. Army to provide "intelligence support services in Iraq" worth up to $426 million, another sign that the eight-year-old defense contractor could be on the road to one day rivaling industry heavyweights like Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Read More

The Pentagon expects to complete the conversion of Lockheed Martin Corp.'s $4.1 billion C-130J cargo aircraft contract into a more highly regulated defense contract. Read More

Private security contractors operate outside the military chain of command and are not subject to military law, which can lead to resentment and confusion in the field. Contractors, many of them veterans of years in combat, complain that young U.S. troops lack their experience and judgment under pressure. Yet each group cannot carry out its mission in a hostile Iraq without the other. Read More

The new order, which comes despite lingering questions about the company's past billing, replaces an earlier agreement that expired last June but had been extended through this spring to ensure a continuous supply of food, sanitation, laundry and other logistical services for the troops. Read More

With little fanfare and no public announcement, the U.S. Army quietly awarded $4.972 billion in new work to Halliburton on May 1 to support the United States military occupation of Iraq. Read More

"Misplaced" portable military bases, thousand-dollar VCRs, and expired food are only a few of the new charges that have been brought against the most powerful military contractor in Iraq. Read More